Nearly headless Nick

Outside of the Divinity School, at the Bodleian Library, is a bronze statue of William Herbert, the 3rd Earl of Pembroke, reportedly a good friend of William Shakespeare and Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Eavesdropping on a paid guided tour revealed that he was not the driving force behind building the facility but as he was the boss at the time, so he got a statue.

Apparently, when his statue was erected the students did not approve and attempted to remove it, almost removing the head. The story goes that JK Rowling heard this story and used it as inspiration for her character Nearly headless Nick, one of the ghosts of Hogwarts.Read more