Blithering Nonsense

Iain McLeod, then shadow Chancellor in the Conservative opposition, said in 1969 that the idea of Harold Wilson's Open University was "blithering nonsense". He threatened to close it down when the Tories returned to Government but, fortunately for the OU, he died before being able to carry out his threat. Jennie Lee was commissioned to create the OU and the rest is history, as they say.

The remarkable OU is now approaching its 50th anniversary and I spent a happy day talking about the place of this extraordinary University in UK higher education, and discussing with other researchers how HE has benefited from its existence.

The picture includes some of the printed literature (and other media), going back to 1960s concept papers, through to a DVD I made a couple of years ago about the OU's international activity.