Alan Macfarlane on Oxbridge

"Oxford is more ritualistic, is more conservative ... Cambridge 
is more scientific, more liberal ... in terms of our religion, 
[Oxford] is High Church [i.e. Catholic] ... Cambridge is Low 
Church, is Protestant. It's probably partly to do with the 
geography. [Cambridge and the East of England] is not very 
rich ... There are not big landlords in the same way as in 
central England, around Oxford ... [Cambridge] supported [the 
republican] Oliver Cromwell, [whereas Oxford] supported the 
king in the Civil War ... so in a way [Cambridge] is liberal 
... and Oxford is a bit more aristocratic ... [Cambridge 
produced] many of the great scientists who challenged 
Christianity, for example Charles Darwin ... scientists like 
Newton ... [it's] the greatest science university the world 
has ever seen ... Oxford is the great university for 
literature, politics and philosophy, and other things..."