In 1932, a controversy about some of its stories resulted in the editor being challenged to a duel,[citation needed] and the following year the paper went bankrupt (having lost £100).

In a letter published in Varsity at the end of the year 1971–1972, Harry Newman wrote,[5]Varsity began over a bottle of sherry in John's, matured over a bottle of port in Caius and blossomed with a firkin of ale over the Victoria Cinema, where we pecked out the first issue on trestle tables (without chairs).

), John Noonan (American Professor of Canon Law), Dave Reece (Canadian Diplomat), Bill Howell (prominent architect), and Geoffrey Neame, among others—felt that what the University needed, in addition to its latest organisation, Y.A.S.

[citation needed] In the 1950s, Varsity's offices were in a former shop in St Edward's Passage, next door to the Arts Theatre.

Solicitors were consulted, who advised that any debts arising from its considerable turnover (advertising income, printing costs etc.)

[citation needed] Varsity is published every Friday during the University of Cambridge's term time, so there are 21 issues a year.

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.

Meanwhile, comic Peter Cook met his first wife while posing for a Varsity May Ball photo shoot.

Other notable contributors who have had later success in other fields include Michael Frayn, Germaine Greer, Clive James, Gavin Lyall, Robert Jenrick[7] and Charles III.

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.

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.

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."

[9][10][11] In July 2021, Varsity broke a national story regarding the university's proposed £400m deal with the United Arab Emirates.

[13] 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.

[citation needed] For several consecutive years in the 1950s and 1960s the paper won the award for Britain's best student newspaper.

[26][needs update] Varsity has a board of directors made up of university academics, long-term associates of the newspaper, and student members.

[16] Varsity's editors are not paid, but their work is supported by a full-time business manager and company secretary (responsible for sourcing advertising to fund the publications, running the office on a day-to-day basis, finance, accounts, tax and administration).