ABSTRACT
In 1963 I would be forty years of age, and SOAS decided to celebrate the event by asking the University of London to create a chair of the history of Africa and at the same time submitted my name as its preferred candidate for the post. It was to be not a personal chair but an established chair, that is to say, it would create a strong moral obligation on the university to keep it in being and to keep it filled whenever a vacancy should occur. It therefore constituted a considerable degree of recognition for the subject. The procedure for dealing with such a request was to submit it to a panel of nine assessors, four of whom would be chosen by the school and five by the university, two of them from other universities. The assessors were consulted initially in writing, and if all agreed the proposal was accepted. If any of the nine expressed doubts about the suitability of the preferred candidate, the post would be publicly advertised, and the assessors would consider the applications and conduct an interview. I was fortunate enough to have my name subscribed in the postal ballot. The public announcement was made only in April, but I had known for some time that it was on the way. It made for a happy homecoming.
