Originally opened in 1667, as the ‘Eagle and Child’, The Eagle is one of the larger pub

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

s in Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, on the north side of Bene't Street

Bene't Street

Bene't Street is a short but historic street in central Cambridge, England. There is a junction with King's Parade to the north and Trumpington Street to the south at the western end of the street. Free School Lane leads off to the south. To the east, the street continues as Wheeler Street.The...

 in the centre of the city. The site is owned by Corpus Christi College

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...

 and is managed by Greene King brewery. Apart from the main bar, it sports a beer garden

Beer garden

Beer garden is an open-air area where beer, other drinks and local food are served. The concept originates from and is most common in Southern Germany...

 and the so-called RAF

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 bar, at the rear, with still-extant graffiti of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 airmen covering the ceiling and walls.

When the university's

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 Cavendish Laboratory

Cavendish Laboratory

The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the university's School of Physical Sciences. It was opened in 1874 as a teaching laboratory....

 was still at its old site at nearby Free School Lane

Free School Lane

Free School Lane is in the centre of the City of Cambridge, England. It is the location of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, the Department of History and Philosophy of Science the University's faculty of Social and Political Sciences, and is the original site of the Cavendish...

 the pub was a popular lunch destination for staff working there. Thus it became the place where Francis Crick

Francis Crick

Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson...

 interrupted patrons' lunchtime on 28 February 1953 to announce that he and James Watson

James D. Watson

James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick...

 had "discovered the secret of life" after they had come up with their proposal for the structure of DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

. The anecdote is related in Watson's book The Double Helix

The Double Helix

The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA is an autobiographical account of the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA written by James D. Watson and published in 1968. It was and remains a controversial account...

and commemorated on a blue plaque

Blue plaque

A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....

 next to the entrance.

Opposite The Eagle is St Bene't's Church

St Bene't's Church

St Bene't's is an Anglican church in central Cambridge, England, noted for its Anglo-Saxon tower. The church is on the south side of Bene't Street adjacent to Corpus Christi College. Bene't is a contraction of Benedict, hence the unusual apostrophe in the name...

, the oldest standing building in Cambridge, with the Saxon tower dating from around 1033.