THE Grade II-listed Randolph Hotel was built in 1864 by William Wilkinson, an architect who also designed many other buildings in North Oxford.

It has a simplified Gothic design similar to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Oxford Union buildings, but is built in brick, not stone.

Contrary to popular belief, the hotel was not named after Lord Randolph Churchill of Blenheim Palace but after the Randolph Gallery in the new Ashmolean Museum opposite the hotel.

The gallery was built as a result of a £1,000 gift left by Dr Francis Randolph, a former Principal of St Alban Hall – now part of Merton College – who died in 1796. It opened in 1866.

There have been many attempts to preserve the grandeur of the building, with major refurbishments in 1952, 1978 and 1988.

In 2001, the hotel underwent a further £4m revamp with the redecoration of 119 bedrooms and the creation of three new meeting rooms.

It has paid host to Prime Ministers and world leaders, many famous guests, and some notorious ones.

Nearly 400 children packed into the hotel in November 1978 to see TV star Rolf Harris open Blackwell’s Children’s Book Fair.

The hotel was a favourite watering hole for Inspector Morse, the detective in the crime novels by Oxford author Colin Dexter which were turned into a hit ITV drama series. The Inspector Morse cast stayed at the hotel during filming in 1987 and the author celebrated his 80th birthday there in 2010.

The Randolph hosts the iconic Morse Bar, which still features regularly in ITV’s Morse spin-off, Lewis.

In 1982 Dr Ferdinand Langenkamp caused a terrorism scare when a chambermaid thought she found a gun in his room shortly before Ulster Secretary Jim Prior was due to arrive for lunch. Dr Langenkamp, 48, was arrested as he was about to fly home from Gatwick Airport. He was later released without charge.

In 1986 a grenade was found in the gents’ toilets, planted there by a former soldier.

The Randolph has been through many changes of ownership and is now part of the Macdonald Hotels & Resorts group.

In September 2014 Executive Head Chef Simon Bradley was awarded a third AA Rosette for the hotel’s outstanding cuisine.

In June 2014, the hotel was named Hotel of the Year by its owners, the Macdonald group.

In March 2008, former US President Jimmy Carter stayed there, preceded in May 2001 by another ex-President, Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary.