Armed Forces: Royal Naval College, Greenwich, Staff College, Camberley, RAF Staff College, Bracknell and the Joint Service Defence College, Greenwich. Initially formed at Bracknell in 1997, the college moved to a purpose-built facility in the grounds of the Defence Academy in 2000. The Conflict Studies Research Centre (CSRC) was part of the UK Defence Academy. It specialised in potential causes of conflict in a wide area ranging from the Baltic to Central Asia. This geographical focus was inherited from the Centre's original incarnation as the Soviet Studies Research Centre (SSRC) in 1972, at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, examining the Soviet military threat. Renamed in the 1990s, the Centre later examined wider issues including foreign policy, energy security and demographic change. The Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre, the MOD's independent think tank, is also in the area. In literature In Tom Brown's School Days, the main character Tom Brown mentions Shrivenham railway station (now closed):"Most of you have probably travelled down the Great Western Railway as far as Swindon. Those of you who did so with their eyes open have been aware, soon after leaving the Didcot station, of a fine range of chalk hills running parallel with the railway on the left-hand side as you go down, and distant some two or three miles, more or less, from the line. The highest point in the range is the White Horse Hill, which you come in front of just before you stop at the Shrivenham station. If you love English scenery, and have a few hours to spare, you can't do better, the next time you pass, than stop at the Farringdon Road or Shrivenham station, and make your way to that highest point." Sport and leisure The local football team is Shrivenham F.C. The Vale of White Horse Gliding Centre flies from Sandhill Farm, just north of the village. Notable people John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington (1678–1734), statesman; resident of Beckett Hall Samuel Barrington (1729–1800), Royal Navy rear admiral, fourth son of John Shute Barrington Shute Barrington, (1734–1826), Bishop of Llandaff, of Salisbury and of Durham William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington (1717–1793), politician, eldest son of John Shute Barrington John Lamb (1858–1949), surveyor, civil engineer and architect based in Nottingham Henry Marten (1602–1680), politician, regicide; resident of Beckett Hall Nicholas Sambourn (1394–1395), MP for Chippenham and Malmesbury John Wildman (c.1621–1693), politician and Postmaster General; resident of Beckett Hall Twin