ABSTRACT
In school, with an outstanding reputation in class and at sport, Eric Lansdown Trist became a leader, was admired by teachers, and was encouraged to take the special opportunity for intelligent men to attend university. At Cambridge, each man had a room, or one room shared with another young man. At Cambridge, the academic year of three terms was loosely related to the Church Calendar. From September 1928 to May 1931, Trist read English Literature and did both parts of the English Tripos. He developed the analytical mind that was required of men at Cambridge in all his studies, took a first-class honors degree, and became deeply interested in literature and psychology. In his English studies the reading, the tutor, and the English school itself were modern and Trist found this exciting. Every week he wrote an essay but did not publish anything or speak at any of the university societies.
