It may seem that my last blog, on 30 June, was a little negative about life on a University Executive Board. It was not intended to be, but to show that - as in many other walks of life - existence near the top of an organisation can be a little fragile from time to time.
But life as a PVC, and more latterly as Deputy Vice-Chancellor, has had huge elements of interest - not least in the people it has given me a chance to meet, and the places I have been privileged to go to. I blogged on 31 March this year about the countries I have visited during my period on the university executive. Within the UK I have also been in places I probably would never otherwise have seen. I am not boasting here - most of these places I will never go to again, and I never really became part of them - but they provided interesting experiences, often of buildings or locations that are not open to the general public.
In London I have actually got to know the premises of the Royal Society and the British Academy a little - sitting on opposite sides of Waterloo Place in the St James area. Within the same district, I have been inside a number of the London clubs - the Institute of Directors, the Athenaeum, the Reform, the RAC - places that, as a teenager growing up in West London, I never imagined I would ever see inside. I have several times been to meetings, meals and other functions in the Houses of Parliament - on one notable occasion actually bumping into one of my daughters (a civil servant) in the Central Lobby. A particularly memorable hour was spent sitting on the terrace of the House of Lords in a group of four, talking with a peer about European policy matters. I have also been to dinners in Middle Temple Hall, and been inside several of the headquarters of the great professional associations (such as the Royal College of Surgeons, or the Institute of Civil Engineers).
Outside London many of the most interesting places I have visited have been universities. Of course, as I have pointed out in earlier blogs, I had already been to many of these before, but as a member of the 'senior team' I have been to private function rooms and Vice-Chancellors' suites that would otherwise have been off limits. Which is the most memorable of those locations? Probably the Vice-Chancellor's room at the University of Greenwich, in the former Royal Naval College.
But it has not just been about places - life as a PVC and then DVC gave me the chance to meet many interesting people. As a group, some of the most impressive have been ambassadors - both those of the UK and those posted to the UK by foreign governments. High Court judges have also been memorable companions over dinner. My own interest in classical music has meant that I have felt very privileged to meet and spend time with Sir Mark Elder (principal conductor of the Halle Orchestra), Elizabeth Watts (opera singer), Trevor Pinnock (early music specialist) and, in Thessaloniki, Goran Bregovic. (If any readers of this have never heard of him or his Weddings and Funerals Orchestra I advise a visit to YouTube.) Most notable of all was sharing a lift with Alfred Brendel, the pianist, and getting him to autograph one of his cd's that was already in my possession.
Others I have been lucky enough to meet include Eddy Izzard, the comedian; Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer; Lord Robert Winston, the scientist; General Sir Mike Jackson, who led the UK forces in the first Iraq War; Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach (but then I had also taught him when he was a student in Sheffield); Sean Bean, the actor; and Brian Lara, the cricketer. I have met a number of Nobel prizewinners - the most special of whom to me was the Caribbean writer Derek Walcott with whom I talked over lunch about Heptonstall and the late Ted Hughes (and Walcott, like Brendel, was kind enough to autograph one of his own works at my request). There have also been Hilary Mantel, and Philip Hensher amongst other writers.
Senior politicians I have got to know to some extent have included David Blunkett, David Willetts and Nick Clegg. But I have also met the current Leader of the House of Commons, Chris Grayling, and I awarded an honorary degree to Richard Caborn who was Minister for Sport at the time when London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. There have also been members of the Royal Family.
So life as a PVC and DVC created superb opportunities for interesting experiences. But I also wonder whether some of the most influential people I have met have not yet showed their potential. Perhaps some of those 88 or so student union officers I worked with over the years, or some of the other students whose hands I shook while conferring their degrees on them, will hit the top. And then I'll pretend that I saw their potential all along!
But life as a PVC, and more latterly as Deputy Vice-Chancellor, has had huge elements of interest - not least in the people it has given me a chance to meet, and the places I have been privileged to go to. I blogged on 31 March this year about the countries I have visited during my period on the university executive. Within the UK I have also been in places I probably would never otherwise have seen. I am not boasting here - most of these places I will never go to again, and I never really became part of them - but they provided interesting experiences, often of buildings or locations that are not open to the general public.
In London I have actually got to know the premises of the Royal Society and the British Academy a little - sitting on opposite sides of Waterloo Place in the St James area. Within the same district, I have been inside a number of the London clubs - the Institute of Directors, the Athenaeum, the Reform, the RAC - places that, as a teenager growing up in West London, I never imagined I would ever see inside. I have several times been to meetings, meals and other functions in the Houses of Parliament - on one notable occasion actually bumping into one of my daughters (a civil servant) in the Central Lobby. A particularly memorable hour was spent sitting on the terrace of the House of Lords in a group of four, talking with a peer about European policy matters. I have also been to dinners in Middle Temple Hall, and been inside several of the headquarters of the great professional associations (such as the Royal College of Surgeons, or the Institute of Civil Engineers).
Outside London many of the most interesting places I have visited have been universities. Of course, as I have pointed out in earlier blogs, I had already been to many of these before, but as a member of the 'senior team' I have been to private function rooms and Vice-Chancellors' suites that would otherwise have been off limits. Which is the most memorable of those locations? Probably the Vice-Chancellor's room at the University of Greenwich, in the former Royal Naval College.
But it has not just been about places - life as a PVC and then DVC gave me the chance to meet many interesting people. As a group, some of the most impressive have been ambassadors - both those of the UK and those posted to the UK by foreign governments. High Court judges have also been memorable companions over dinner. My own interest in classical music has meant that I have felt very privileged to meet and spend time with Sir Mark Elder (principal conductor of the Halle Orchestra), Elizabeth Watts (opera singer), Trevor Pinnock (early music specialist) and, in Thessaloniki, Goran Bregovic. (If any readers of this have never heard of him or his Weddings and Funerals Orchestra I advise a visit to YouTube.) Most notable of all was sharing a lift with Alfred Brendel, the pianist, and getting him to autograph one of his cd's that was already in my possession.
Others I have been lucky enough to meet include Eddy Izzard, the comedian; Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer; Lord Robert Winston, the scientist; General Sir Mike Jackson, who led the UK forces in the first Iraq War; Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach (but then I had also taught him when he was a student in Sheffield); Sean Bean, the actor; and Brian Lara, the cricketer. I have met a number of Nobel prizewinners - the most special of whom to me was the Caribbean writer Derek Walcott with whom I talked over lunch about Heptonstall and the late Ted Hughes (and Walcott, like Brendel, was kind enough to autograph one of his own works at my request). There have also been Hilary Mantel, and Philip Hensher amongst other writers.
Senior politicians I have got to know to some extent have included David Blunkett, David Willetts and Nick Clegg. But I have also met the current Leader of the House of Commons, Chris Grayling, and I awarded an honorary degree to Richard Caborn who was Minister for Sport at the time when London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. There have also been members of the Royal Family.
So life as a PVC and DVC created superb opportunities for interesting experiences. But I also wonder whether some of the most influential people I have met have not yet showed their potential. Perhaps some of those 88 or so student union officers I worked with over the years, or some of the other students whose hands I shook while conferring their degrees on them, will hit the top. And then I'll pretend that I saw their potential all along!
No comments:
Post a Comment