Varsity is the oldest of Cambridge University's main student newspapers. It has been published continuously since 1947 and is one of only three fully independent student newspapers in the UK. It moved back to being a weekly publication in Michaelmas 2015, and is published every Friday during term time.
Varsity has received recognition at the now defunct Guardian Student Media Awards.
History Varsity is one of Britain's oldest student newspapers. Its first edition was published on 17 January 1931, as Varsity: the Cambridge University Illustrated (later The Varsity Weekly, and then the Cambridge Varsity Post. However, the first few years saw Varsity get off to a shaky start. In 1932, a controversy about some of its stories resulted in the editor being challenged to a duel, and the following year the paper went bankrupt (having lost £100).
Revival A variety of attempts to revive Varsity led to the paper resurfacing periodically over the following decade, but it was not until 1947 that the paper was re-established permanently in its current form. Harry Newman Jr (1921–2001), a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Business School, then studying for a postgraduate degree at St John's College, Cambridge, decided that Cambridge needed a proper American-style campus newspaper modelled on The Harvard Crimson. With the post-war rationing of newsprint, only publications that had existed before the War could be allocated paper, and so the obsolete publication name Varsity was used.
In a letter published in Varsity at the end of the year 1971–1972, Harry Newman wrote,
Varsitys headquarters in 1947 was above the Scotch Hoose, "a restaurant at the corner of the Market and Market Street". Newman goes on to note that Geoffrey Neame, "a leading light among the Nightclimbers of Cambridge and the Gentlemen of Caius", was the first post-1947 layout editor. The first managing editor was the Scotsman "Wee Willie Watson", a former fighter pilot. On 19 April 1947, Varsity reappeared, its first issue headlining the coming visit of the then Princess Elizabeth to the university (a visit that ultimately would be cancelled). Its first print run was of 5,000 copies.
1950s–1960s In the 1950s, Varsitys offices were in a former shop in St Edward's Passage, next door to the Arts Theatre. The second editor (after Newman) was David Widdicombe, a Queens' College student who was also chairman of the Labour Club. In 1955, a one-off Oxford edition of the paper was produced by the then editor Michael Winner. Since then the paper has concentrated on the Cambridge audience.
In 1956, the staff, worried about debts, questioned Varsitys legal status. Solicitors were consulted, who advised that any debts arising from its considerable turnover (advertising income, printing costs etc.) or damages awarded for libel etc. would be the personal responsibility of the current editor. Varsity was promptly converted into a limited liability company – "Varsity Publications Ltd", with a share capital of £100. 50% of the shares were taken by the printers, 20% by the Don who was the senior treasurer and the rest, at £1 per head, by the staff at that time.
1970s–1980s In the mid-1970s, Varsity merged with the radical campaigning student paper Stop Press. Thereafter, it was known as Stop Press with Varsity for several years, before reverting to its original title in the late 1980s.
1990s–present Varsity moved back to being a weekly publication in Michaelmas 2015, after having been a fortnightly publication since Michaelmas 2012. Varsity is published every Friday during the University of Cambridge's term time, so there are 21 issues a year.
The Lent term editor also edits a single edition at the start of Easter term, and a separate editor controls a special edition May Week issue (or, in some years, daily May Week issues) at the end of the academic year.
Famous contributions Notable contributors Many of those who wrote for the paper during their student days have since gone on to achieve distinction in later life. Famous ex-editors include the former BBC news presenters Jeremy Paxman and David Frost, film director Michael Winner, the television presenter Richard Whiteley, former Financial Times editor Andrew Gowers, Independent editor Amol Rajan, i editor Oliver Duff, novelist Robert Harris, novelist and biographer Graham Lord, historian Jonathan Spence, Factory Records founder Tony Wilson and BBC1's EastEnders executive producer Matthew Robinson. International Herald Tribune fashion writer and author Suzy Menkes was the newspaper's first female editor. Some of Sylvia Plath's earliest poems and J. G. Ballard's first published story were written for the paper. Plath also posed in a bathing suit for an article she wrote about summer fashion-wear for the ladies. Meanwhile, comic Peter Cook met his first wife while posing for a Varsity May Ball photo shoot.
The paper has also launched the careers of many news journalists, including in recent times former Observer Political Editor Gaby Hinsliff, Guardian New York correspondent Oliver Burkeman, Guardian music critic Alexis Petridis, author and columnist Iain Hollingshead, Guardian columnist Archie Bland, Sunday Times columnist Charlotte Ivers, the Independent's New York business correspondent Stephen Foley, The Sunday Times News Review Editor Martin Hemming, as well as former Independent columnist Johann Hari. The BBC and Evening Standard reporter Andrew Gilligan was once a news editor. Other notable contributors who have had later success in other fields include Michael Frayn, Germaine Greer, Clive James, Gavin Lyall, Robert Jenrick and Charles III.
Some notable editors of the Varsity include Andrew Rawnsley (1983–4), Archie Bland (Michaelmas 2004), Amol Rajan (Lent 2005), Laura-Jane Foley (Lent 2004), and James Dacre (Michaelmas 2005).
Recent editors +YearTermEditor(s)2026MichaelmasDaisy Bates and Bibi Boyce2026EasterEll Heeps2026LentDaisy Bates (Issue 1), Calum Murray (Issues 1-5), and Ellie Buckley (Issues 2-5)2025MichaelmasBen Curtis and Charlie Rowan2025EasterSophie Ennis and Anuk Weerawardana2025Lent Sophie Denny and Wilf Vall2024MichaelmasAlice Mainwood and Grace Cobb2024EasterAlice Mainwood and Felix Armstrong2024LentDaniel Hilton and Michael Hennessey2023MichaelmasIsabel Dempsey and Taneesha Datta2023EasterHannah Gillott and Erik Olsson2023LentMegan Byrom and Famke Veenstra-Ashmore2022MichaelmasFergal Jeffreys and Jacob Freedland2022EasterJuliette Guéron-Gabrielle and Lotte Brundle2022LentEmaan Ullah and Bethan Moss2021MichaelmasNick Bartlett and Isabel Sebode2021EasterMeike Leonard and Elizabeth Hagh2021LentGaby Vides and Georgina Buckle2020MichaelmasRich Bartlett2020EasterCaterina Bragoli and Gabriel Humphreys2020Lent Lottie Reeder and Jess Ma2019MichaelmasMaia Wyn Davies and Stephanie Stacey2019EasterIsobel Bickersteth2019Lent Vivienne Hopley-Jones and Catherine Lally2018MichaelmasNoella Chye2018EasterAnna Jennings2018Lent Daniel Gayne2017MichaelmasElizabeth Howcroft and Patrick Wernham2017EasterPatrick Wernham2017Lent Millie Brierley2016MichaelmasLouis Ashworth and Callum Hale-Thomson2016EasterEleanor Deeley2016Lent James Sutton2015MichaelmasTom Freeman2015LentTalia Zybutz2014MichaelmasAmy Hawkins2014LentEmily Chan2013MichaelmasAlice Udale-Smith2013LentSalome Wagaine and Aliya Ram2012MichaelmasCharlotte Keith2012LentLouise Benson and Madeleine Morley2011MichaelmasRhys Treharne and Laurie Martin2011LentAlice Hancock and Lara Prendergast2010MichaelmasJoe Pitt-Rashid2010LentEmma Mustich and Laurie Tuffrey2009MichaelmasRobert Peal and Anna Trench2009LentHugo Gye and Michael Stothard2008MichaelmasPatrick Kingsley2008LentTom Bird and George Grist2007MichaelmasLizzie Mitchell and Elliot Ross2007LentJoseph Gosden and Hermione Buckland-Hoby (Issue 1), Joseph Gosden and Natalie Woolman (Issue 2–9)2006MichaelmasEmily Stokes (Issues 1–2), Mary Bowers and Jonny Ensall (Issue 3–9)2006LentJon Swaine and Amy Goodwin2005MichaelmasJames Dacre2005LentAmol Rajan2004MichaelmasArchie Bland2004LentReji Vettasseri and Laura-Jane Foley2003MichaelmasTom Ebbutt2003LentOliver Duff and Luke Layfield2002MichaelmasKaty Long2002LentRob Sharp2001MichaelmasAdam Joseph and Julian Blake2001LentTom Royston and Sarah Brealey2000MichaelmasEd Hall2000LentJonti Small1999MichaelmasDavid Peter
Stories broken Early years Stories first revealed in Varsity have often gone on to receive coverage in the UK's national press. In May 1953, Varsity was only the third newspaper in the world to carry a report on James Watson and Francis Crick's discovery of the structure of DNA, after the News Chronicle and The New York Times. The discovery was made in Cambridge on 28 February 1953; the first Watson/Crick paper appeared in Nature on 25 April 1953. Sir Lawrence Bragg, the director of the Cavendish Laboratory, where Watson and Crick worked, gave a talk at Guy's Hospital Medical School in London on 14 May 1953 which resulted in an article by Ritchie Calder in the News Chronicle of London, on 15 May 1953, entitled "Why You Are You. Nearer Secret of Life." The news reached readers of The New York Times the next day; Victor K. McElheny, in researching his biography, "Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution", found a clipping of a six-paragraph New York Times article written from London and dated 16 May 1953 with the headline "Form of 'Life Unit' in Cell Is Scanned." The article only ran in an early edition and was then pulled to make space for news deemed more important. Varsity ran its own 130-word front-page article on the discovery on 30 May 1953 under the headline "X-Ray Discovery".
Recent years In recent years, reports to capture wider attention have included the leak of the name of Cambridge's latest vice-Chancellor, news about student protests concerning higher education funding, and a host of lighter reports about undergraduate excesses. In 2014 Varsity collaborated with Cambridge's Students' Union to survey the rate of sexual assault at the university; the findings of the survey, attracted widespread attention from the national press.
In July 2021, Varsity broke a national story regarding the university's proposed £400m deal with the United Arab Emirates. Varsity journalists were then credited when the story was covered by The Times. The news was later broken that the deal had been called off following revelations around the UAE's links to Pegasus spyware through an interview with Vice-Chancellor Stephen Toope. The story appeared on the front cover of The Guardian, with Varsity journalists receiving writing credits.
Current organisation Varsity is published by Varsity Publications Ltd, a not-for-profit company which directly funds The Varsity Trust, a UK registered charity with the principal object of furthering the education of students in journalism. The company also produces a number of other student publications such as The Mays—a collection of short stories and poems by Cambridge and Oxford students. The Mays have been published annually since 1992, and are most famous for launching the career of novelist Zadie Smith. Her work appears in the 1996 and 1997 short-story editions. These attracted the attention of a publisher, who offered her a contract for her first novel. Smith decided to contact a literary agent and was taken on by A. P. Watt. Smith returned to guest-edit the anthology in 2001.