The Eagle Cambridge (not shown the coughtails consumed after the drinks here or the hangover that ensued - I must remember not to go out drinking with a young man 40 years younger than me)
During the
Second World War, Allied airmen, who drank and socialised at The Eagle, used wax candles, petrol lighters and lipstick to write their names, squadron numbers and other doodles onto the ceiling of the rear bar. The tradition is believed to have been started by
RAF Flight Sergeant P. E. Turner, who climbed up on the table one night to burn his squadron number on the ceiling.
[5] The graffiti, in what is now known as the "RAF Bar",
[2] was uncovered, deciphered and preserved by former RAF Chief Technician James Chainey during the early 1990s.
[3]
When the
university's Cavendish Laboratory was still at its old site at nearby
Free School Lane, the pub was a popular lunch destination for staff working there. Thus, it became the place where
Francis Crick interrupted patrons' lunchtime on 28 February 1953 to announce that he and
James Watson had "discovered the secret of life" after they had come up with their proposal for the structure of
DNA.
en.wikipedia.org