A sight which is quite common in Oxford and certainly adds to the atmosphere.

Oxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England.
The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre. For a distance of some 10 miles (16 km) along the river, in the vicinity of Oxford, the Thames is known as The Isis.
The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world.
Buildings in Oxford reflect every British architectural period since the arrival of the Saxons, including the iconic, mid-18th century Radcliffe Camera. Oxford is known as the 'city of dreaming spires', a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold in reference to the harmonious architecture of Oxford's university buildings.
Oxford was first occupied in Saxon times, and was initially known as "OxenaRfoda", meaning "Ford of the Ox"; fords being very important before the days of bridges. [Wikipedia, more...]

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 – d.23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist.
His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems.
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613.[4][d] His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. [Wikipedia, more..]

Famous writer Bill Bryson wrote a short biography of William Shakespeare, in his famous, supreme wit and intelligence. Shakespeare's life, despite the scrutiny of generations of biographers and scholars, is still a thicket of myths and traditions, some preposterous, some conflicting... From the book I learned there is no certainty the portraits, as we know them of the Bard, have any likeness!