New Year's Eve Gathering

We invited Henry, shown here,

and his wife Caroline

To drinks and small bites this evening to meet up with our house guests Jacqueline and Ken, who have agreed to celebrate the coming of the New Year with us.

Henry is a most distinguished scholar, and I hope that he will not object if I count him as a friend of ours: he is superb company!. He was Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Liverpool 1960-68. He then returned to Oxford to become Fellow and Tutor in Medieval History at St Peter's College from 1968 until 1997, when he was appointed Fellow Emeritus. From 1976 until 1997 he was also Lecturer in Medieval History at Merton College. He was Slade Professor of Fine Art for the academic year 1987-88 and in 1993 he was named University Reader in Medieval History. In 1997 he became the first Catholic and the first layperson to be appointed Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Oxford and consequently he became the first Lay Canon of Christ Church Cathedral. He retired from these positions in 2003.

The point to note here is his period in Liverpool. My wife and I met Jacqueline and Ken there in about 1963: they were undergraduates reading history, and were taught by Henry; and they and Henry have kept in touch ever since. Whenever they come to visit us, we try to oraganise some kind of encounter with Henry and Caroline.