On this day, the famous Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race was held for the first time when Charles Merivale, a Cambridge University student, challenged his friend, Charles Wordsworth, an Oxford University student, to a race at Henley-on-Thames. The second race took place in 1836, on a course from Westminster to Putney in London. Over the next two years, there was disagreement over the venue for the race, with Oxford preferring Henley and Cambridge preferring London. Since 1856, the race has been held every year (apart from the two world war periods and the Covid period) on the River Thames in London. It attracts an average crowd of about 250,000 people on the banks of the river and is also broadcast internationally on television to many millions of viewers.
