Cambridge puts treasures on show to boost funds

Tinned food left over from Captain Scott's polar exhibition, fish collected by Charles Darwin and the Canterbury Gospels are among an eclectic mix of artefacts on show to raise money for Cambridge University.

The display of treasures, pictures, books and everyday objects from England's second oldest university was opened by Princess Margaret yesterday at Christie's in London.

The university's 785-year-old history is chronicled from the time a few disgruntled scholars left Oxford None of the items on show are for sale and entrance to the exhibition is free - but officials at the university hope the publicity will help boost the £250m Campaign for Cambridge, which is half-way through its 10-year-long appeal to support the university's teaching and research.

Other items with a Cambridge connection filling the auction rooms include the original pamphlets of John Maynard Keynes's General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, a lock of Isaac Newton's hair, Ernest Rutherford's details for splitting the atom,and manuscript versions of Tennyson's poems In Memoriam and The Lady of Shalot.

Scott's provisions from his ill-fated 1911 trip to the Antarctic include a tin of Bovril and a packet of soup.

The Canterbury Gospels, which date back to the 6th Century when they were brought into England by St Augustine to aid his mission, are only usually brought out into public when a new Archbishop of Canterbury is enthroned.

The exhibition lasts until 25 January.