King's College London–UCL rivalry

[1] University College was founded with the backing of Jews, Utilitarians and non-Anglican Christians as a secular institution intended to educate "the youth of our middling rich people between the ages of 15 or 16 and 20 or later".

King's College, by contrast, was founded by royal charter for "the general education of youth in which the various branches of Literature and Science are intended to be taught, and also the doctrines and duties of Christianity [...] inculcated by the United Church of England and Ireland.

"[2] The College counted King George IV and then-Prime Minister the Duke of Wellington among other eminent politicians and theologians of the British Establishment as its early benefactors.

[3][4][5] Early in 1829, the Earl of Winchilsea publicly challenged Wellington about the Duke's simultaneous support for the Anglican King's College and the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829.

The affair culminated in 1989 with the infamous theft of Jeremy Bentham's mummified head by King's students, who reportedly played football with it and were threatened with fines and expulsion.