ABSTRACT
My engagement with the themes discussed in this contribution arose out of conversations with Philip Jones in 1976, conversations which remain vivid after over three decades. He had taught me as an undergraduate, but as research supervisor and pupil we got off to a shaky start. He had been discouraging about my original proposed research area – rightly, as I found out when I got to the archives. His initial reaction to my second proposed field, the history of universities, was scarcely more encouraging. Many years later I found out from Trevor Dean what he really thought about it. ‘Dons writing about other dons’ was apparently his verdict, and those who knew him will have no difficulty in imagining the lugubrious dismissiveness with which it must have been uttered.
