Book excerpt: The University of Cambridge, having suffered hard times before and after the First World War, prospered during the post-war years up until the 1970s. During that period British governments were generous to universities, and respected their independence. As this attitude dissolved, Cambridge obtained a surge in non-government research grants and contracts, and became world famous. But it is now suffering from a financial squeeze caused by repeated cuts in government funding, accompanied by a tide of political intervention. Using the university's financial records and other statistics, Robert Neild traces the nature and scale of these changes and how they have affected the character of the university, plotting its financial history from 1850 to the present day.