NEWSFLASH! SOMEONE HAS PLEDGED TO DOUBLE THE AMOUNT RAISED WHICH MEANS A £20 DONATION FROM YOU WILL IN FACT BE £40, MORE IF YOU TICK GIFT AID.

There are definitely much easier ways to get from Oxford to Venice than by cycling - believe me, I've looked!

Wouldn't it be easier to fly, rather than cycle the daunting 1,100km?  A two hour flight instead of grinding out 900,000 revolutions on my bike from one bridge to another?

Of course, but that's the point.

Education should be open to all, but it isn't.  For some of our brightest students, the distance to our best universities is simply too great.  And the barrier is not based on academic ability, but the ability to pay.

Educational ability, not a privileged upbringing, should be the passport to higher education.  That's why I am proud to work in the state sector as a teacher and that's why Hertford College's tradition of supporting students whatever their background is worth continuing and worth supporting. 

Please help me make it to Venice, to help others to have access to education and, in turn, to enable them to achieve great things for all of us.