11 February 1826: England gets its third university

London University – later University College, London – was founded on this day in 1826, becoming in the process England's third university.

England has a proud history of university education. The oldest, Oxford University, was founded some time in the 11th or 12th century. Probably – nobody's quite sure. Cambridge came into being at the beginning of the 13th century after Oxford students and townies fell out, leaving two students dead. But for the next 600 years, they were the only universities in England. (For a brief period between 1261 and 1265, there was the University of Northampton. But Oxford saw that as a threat, and so it had to go.)

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.