ABSTRACT
Among the many things Bryer has taught me, there is one in which I was a less than willing student: the art of writing obituaries. This field, in which he excels partly because of long and brilliant experience as the Public Orator at the University of Birmingham, was forced on me when Robert Browning died. Bryer instructed me to ring up the Guardian and insist that it carry an obituary; he would deal with the Independent and arrange for others to cover The Times. I was thus obliged to try and master a new art form, quite distinct from the writing of history.
