He had to obtain the approval of King Henry VIII of England, the Pope through the intermediary Polydore Vergil, and the Bishop of Ely to suppress the religious hospital (which by then held only a Master and three Augustinian brethren) and convert it to a college.

Under these rulings, the borough bailiffs (mayors after 1638) had the power to appoint masters, with Ashton's old college, St John's, having an academic veto.

The college arms are flanked by heraldic beasts known as yales, mythical creatures with elephants' tails, antelopes' bodies, goats' heads, and swivelling horns.

[17] The south range was refaced between 1772 and 1776 in the Georgian style by the local architect, James Essex, as part of an abortive attempt to modernise the entire court in the same fashion.

In April 2011, Queen Elizabeth II visited St John's College to inaugurate a new pathway in First Court, which passes close to the ruins of the Old Chapel.

This gatehouse, built as a mirror image of the college's Great Gate, contains a statue of the benefactress Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, added in 1671.

[21] The library's bay window overlooks the River Cam and bears the letters "ILCS" on it, standing for Iohannes Lincolniensis Custos Sigilli, or "John of Lincoln, Keeper of the Seal".

The original intention of the college had been to construct an elegant classical building supported by pillared porticos, but Bishop Williams insisted on a more traditional design.

The additions included a fine set of Dutch-gabled buildings backing onto the River Cam and a 'window-with-nothing-behind-it' that was designed to solve the problem of connecting the windowed library with the remainder of the court.

It is a three-sided court of tall Gothic Revival buildings, closed on the fourth side by an open, seven-bayed cross-vaulted cloister and gateway.

The main portal features a fan vault with a large octagonal pendant, which resembles that of the ceiling found in Bishop Alcock's late 15th-century chapel in Ely Cathedral.

The benefactor Henry Hoare offered a downpayment of £3000 to finance the chapel's construction, in addition to which he promised to pay £1000 a year if a tower were added to Scott's original plans, which had included only a small flèche.

The people commemorated are, beginning with the buttress next to the transept on the south side: St John's Master's Lodge is located in a grassy clearing to the north of Third Court.

It was built at the same time as the new chapel was being constructed and has Tudor fittings, wainscot, portraits and other relics from the demolished north wing of First Court.

It has a large garden, and in the winter its westmost rooms have excellent views of the college's old library, the River Cam, and the Bridge of Sighs.

Designed by architects Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, the building is Grade II* listed[26] having received an award from the British Architectural Institution.

The first recording of this venture was a collection of music by the contemporary composer Jonathan Harvey released in May 2016 to a number two position in the UK specialist classical charts.

They provide a mixture of classical a cappella music and folksongs, as well as covers of recent chart hits and light-hearted entertainment, and host an annual Christmas concert and garden party.

[36] The open letter received national media attention from The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, with notable supporters including former Archbishop of Canterbury and Master of Magdalene College Rowan Williams, music director of the London Symphony Orchestra Sir Simon Rattle, mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, and composer John Rutter.

In addition, both foundations use the Beaufort crest, an eagle displayed arising out of a coronet of roses and fleurs-de-lis all gold, but their title to this is more doubtful.

More likely explanations include Hutchinson's fear that the installation of a clockface would spoil the building's symmetry and that the college's financial situation in the early 19th century made completion impossible.

Other legends explaining the absence of clockfaces claim that St John's and its neighbour, Trinity were engaged in a race to build the final (or tallest) clocktower in Cambridge.

Trinity's Tower was finished first (or, in another version of the same story, was made taller overnight by the addition of a wooden cupola), and its clock was allowed to remain.

[42] Supposedly, Fellows of St John's are the only people outside the royal family in the United Kingdom allowed to eat unmarked mute swans.

In 1706, four fellows "exorcised" some ghosts from a house opposite the college by threatening to fire their pistols at the positions the moans and groans were coming from.

Members of the college can choose to dine either in the Hall, where silver service three-course meals are served six evenings per week or in the buttery, where food can be purchased from a cafeteria-style buffet.

The Society traces its foundation to 1960 when graduate student members submitted an application to the College Council for official separation from the Junior Combination Room (JCR).

The Redboys occupy eighteen out of the twenty-four plates on the current Division One League Shield and thirteen out of the seventeen names on the Cuppers trophy.

[47] The most generous of all the early benefactors of St John's College was Roger Lupton (died 1540), Provost of Eton and chaplain to Henry VIII.

[57] As part of the commemoration of the bicentenary of the 1807 Act, and as a representative of one of the Ivy League universities offering an American historical perspective on the Triangular Trade, President Ruth J. Simmons of Brown University (herself a descendant of American slaves) gave a public lecture at St John's College entitled "Hidden in Plain Sight: Slavery and Justice in Rhode Island" on 16 February 2007.