on a time capsule containing articles relating to the area. Wye Crown has been a focus of celebrations for royal and national occasions, as well as Wye College students' charity week bonfires. In 2020, the Crown was illuminated to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, although during World War I and II it had to be camouflaged from enemy aircraft to prevent use as a navigation landmark. Behind the bench and way marker are numerous small hollows believed to be ancient ironstone pits. The features acquired a mythology amongst Wye College students and spoof traditions were attributed to inscriptions on stone tablets supposedly found there. The college's former quarry, below Wye Crown was a source of flint and chalk, the chalk likely burnt for construction lime. Wye College students used it for clay pigeon shooting and spectacular parties, causing marginally less disruption than the machine gun training there during World War II. In 1991, part of the slope was converted to seating arranged as a natural, outdoor amphitheatre. Wye Crown and quarry form part of the Wye National Nature Reserve. Its thin, seasonally grazed chalk grassland provides an ideal habitat for orchids. Legacy activities External Programme The Wye College External Programme, established in 1988 under Ian Carruthers and Henry Bernstein, was the first use of exclusively, distance learning by the University of London. The programme built upon Wye's established research and teaching links to the rural developing world, especially in Africa and combined resources from existing departments to offer rural development and other cross disciplinary MSc and Postgraduate Diploma courses. Developing the 50 courses cost Wye College £2 million. Learning resources were initially on paper, supplemented by audio cassettes; videotapes, and 24 hour telephone support. The World Wide Web was embraced later. The program received a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Education in 1994, the first year the awards were granted. A citation commended the unique program for providing quality professional development to agriculturalists at a third the cost of overseas students in the UK, and its ability to project even into war torn countries thereby assisting their recovery. By 2000, Wye's External Programme had 975 mid-career professionals registered from 120 countries, and was growing. In 2007, it became the Centre for Development, Environment and Policy of SOAS, albeit initially from the Wye campus. This arrangement allowed enrolled students to be awarded their contracted University of London degrees but deprived