I jumped at the chance to speak to London Higher in part because I am an alumnus of our host institution, having studied here at the end of the last century when Queen Mary University of London / QMUL was known as QMWC or Queen Mary and Westfield College.
I left my job teaching History in schools because I was attracted by the taught Master’s course in Contemporary British History that was on offer here back then. It was led by Peter Hennessy, who is even more famous now – as Lord Hennessy – than he was in the past.
This institution’s position here in London was core to why my student experience was so good, as we got to benefit from studying amidst all the cultural, political and educational institutions situated in the capital. As part of the course, we visited the National Archives, the (then new) British Library at St Pancras, Number 10 and the Cabinet Office as well as the Houses of Parliament. As we were on their doorstep, we even got to enjoy seminars with the Queen’s Private Secretary, with the Cabinet Secretary and with experienced policymakers like Tony Benn.
I was first in this room 25 years ago to watch another one of my professors, John Ramsden, feature in a performance of the musical Cabaret performed by the Queen Mary Players, a staff / student troupe. John was a remarkable academic who worked for this institution for 37 years, from early 1972 until late 2008, a year before his untimely death. Some of you may know his books about the history of the Conservative Party and Churchill, or his books about films like the Dam Busters and Anglo-German relations.
