The Vice-Chancellor of the is both its academic leader and its chief executive officer. Professor Eric Thomas, who trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, took up the post in 2001. He joined Bristol from the University of Southampton, where he was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Biological Sciences. He led the Government task force on how to increase voluntary giving in higher education, is Deputy Lieutenant of the City and County of Bristol, served for four years as Chair of the Worldwide Universities Network and is Chair of the Research Policy Committee of Universities UK. Reflections on a vice-chancellorship

Eric Thomas N ick S mi t h 100 15 direction themthefreedom whilegiving tofly. Itis keep thoseindividuals travelling inroughly thesame people –staffandstudents. to isintrying The art Universities are fullofmassively talentedandcreative success factor. interaction anddiscussionisthesinglemostimportant a reality ofcollective through leadership sustained 6,000 staff, but heorshecanclose-lead20. Making direction.agreed A vice-chancellorcannotclose-lead team toplantheway forward andleadeveryone inthe istoco-ordinate andutilisethestrengths ofthat trick team, are allofwhosemembers actingasleaders; the undertaking. The ofasenior Vice-Chancellor ispart approach; leadingsuchaplacehastobecollective of universities demandsaconsensual like Bristol individual, role. leadership charismatic The constitution However, the isnotsome Vice-Chancellorship of thatplan. lead thewholeuniversity through theimplementation institution hastohave aplanforthefuture andhasto the useofscarce resources meansthattheheadof it isinvolved approach andtheneedforastrategic to and culture, inwhich partnerships external themyriad such asBristol, structure thecomplexityofitsinternal but thatisnolongersufficient. Thesize of auniversity past, heorshemay have beenable tobeanumpire, In 2009, avice-chancellorhastobeleader. Inthe city. already touchedupon: thejob, theUniversity andthe IwantIn thisarticle toexplore three subjectsIhave asthey haveimportant ever been. whenuniversitiesat apointinhistory are atleastas UK’s mostinvigorating cities–all andentertaining world’s leadinguniversities withworking inoneofthe and challengeofbeing Vice-Chancellor ofonethe It isthebestjobbecauseitcombinesstimulation but Irecognised thathewas very closetothetruth. higher education’. Hemay have beenalittlebiased, hope you realise you’ve justgotthebestjobinBritish said tomewhenwe metaftermy appointmentwas ‘I thing The first my predecessor, Sir John Kingman, 16 100 sector andthemedia, tonamebut afew. Westminster and Whitehall, business, thecharitable with thelocalcommunity, local politicians, theNHS, essential tothesuccessof University –partnerships thatareor shemust create andsustainpartnerships of theUniversity but alsopublicly acclaimsthem. He that the Vice-Chancellor notonlyembodiesthevalues probably thesameformostpeople. Itistherefore vital todothis,superficial andunfair but Isuspectitis through thecharacterofitsleader. Itisobviously both of theinstitution. aview ofauniversity Ioftenform many respects, the Vice-Chancellor isthepublic face from ofsociety. allparts partners number ofexternal In represents theUniversity andwhomeetsahuge It isthe Vice-Chancellor whomostcommonly business. are developingservices new ways ofenhancingthe what ouracademicsare creating andhow thesupport path.particular Itishugelyreinvigorating formetosee discuss withcolleagueswhy theUniversity istakinga faced. However, formeto itisalsoanopportunity that are underway andthechallengesthatare being This ismostlytokeep meeducatedabouttheactivities service.which Ivisitevery andsupport department and values internally. Ihave atwo-year schedulein theUniversity’sChancellor isarticulating ambitions function isrepresentational. Itisvitalthatthe Vice- of the Vice-Chancellor’s job. What else? The third So, andempowerment leadership aspects are crucial Chancellor’s role toprovide these. activities. ofthe part Itisavery important Vice- systems. They needmoneytheiracademic topursue andlibraries.laboratories They needup-to-dateIT and studentsalsorequire facilities. They needmodern Intellectual empowerment is mandatory, but academics approach inauniversity.the right a trendy managementword, but itperfectlydescribes just allowed but positively welcomed. Empowerment is students must bemadeaware thatsuchactivity isnot of theprocess andboththeacademicstaff and insight. isatthevery centre Intellectualrisk-taking unshackled creativity thatproduces new knowledge almost palpable here. Ithinkgeography isimportant. the place. ofmany universities,This istrue but itis is taken asagiven oftheDNA –almostaspart every day; alldiscussionsandplanning. itinforms It intellectual excellence. Ifeelthatambitionvery strongly Central toBristol’s hasalways story of beenthepursuit has auniquesetofcharacteristics, auniqueculture. character oftheUniversity Ilead?Every university ofwhatIdo, description If thatisabrief whatisthe other countries, oreven whenmowing thelawn. conversations informal withuniversity in during leaders These musings occurinbed, ontrainsand aircraft, to them, orisourway thebestjustatmoment? Might we dobetterifwe operatedinasimilarmanner differences? What are theirstrengths andourstrengths? withother successfuluniversities.Bristol What are the daydream. Part ofthatdaydreaming involves comparing post, ofmy part role Isaidthatavery important was to comparisons.international Inmy forthis interview andmaking opportunities looking forinternational anywhere. The Vice-Chancellor shouldconstantlybe are immenselymobileandcan, anddo, take theirskills work and competitors. withglobalcollaborators They the world almostassoonitisproduced. Ourstaff very fluidandimpossible tocontrol –itcangoaround highly connected, globalenvironment. Knowledge is localinstitutionsbut theyimportant now operateina now international. Universities are like very Bristol It goeswithoutsaying thatsuchrepresentation is representation oftheUniversity. changes,of important theendaboutvery best shouldbeabouttheimplementation The beginning of officeis different fromvery the role attheend. This meansthattheroleofaterm atthebeginning becomes betternetworked andamore nationalfigure. astheindividual staysimportant longerinofficeand ofintelligencebecomesincreasingly This gathering policy andpoliticslocally, nationallyandinternationally. of thinkingandwiththedrift engaged withcurrent similar role, but the Vice-Chancellor should be themost world intotheUniversity. Otherindividuals have a of intelligenceabouthighereducationandtheoutside The carrier Vice-Chancellor isalsothemostimportant and creative outlook, have inthe their counterparts Many ofthesequalities, includinganentrepreneurial ofbehaviour andleadership. patterns roots inhistorical is alongstandingstrength oftheUniversity andhasits way more thanIhave –far elsewhere. experienced This taking. The staffalsowork inavery interdisciplinary activity;risk- itisacombination ofconfidenceand ofacademicandbusiness across thehorizon right they cangoandhow they cangetthere. Itstretches their part, but ratherarealistic ofwhere understanding that really pushtheboundaries. This isnotvanity on liberating. Itenables metosetambitions and anagenda their talentscanleadthemtocreate isquiteliterally already, repetition. but itbears Their beliefinwhat Furthermore, we have superbstaff. Ihave saidthis to meetthem. It isinspiring don’tgraduates behave as if they have the golden ticket’. As theeditorofanationalnewspaper toldme, ‘Bristol predictable. are highlysoughtafter. Suchcharacteristics of theplace. Maybe they wishedtoavoid thewholly becausethey likedcome toBristol thedistinctiveness of theirmostformative years. Maybe they choseto University some andthecityexert onpeopleduring is aresult ofthecombination influencesthatthe from different andunconventional angles. Maybe this sharp, andprepared tocomeatproblems andchallenges every senseandslightly ‘edgy’. BythatImeanthey are intellectually challenging, creative, in entrepreneurial howeach year many anditisstriking ofthemare to succeedinevery area. Imeetthousandsofalumni The University whogoon produces graduates fantastic society. talentandintellect,great atthetopofBritish right Brenda and(currently) Hale–individualsMorse of included Winston Churchill, Dorothy Hodgkin, Jeremy asroleinspirational chancellors models. These have talented students. We have inhaving alsobeenfortunate very largepopulationfrom whichtoattractthemost Bristol. Itsproximity tothecapitalmeantthere was a staff from universities thosegreat couldeasilymove to role models–Oxford, andLondon– Cambridge As theUniversity was growing, itcouldalmostseeits 100 17

Reflections on a vice-chancellorship University of Bristol Library, Special Collections University of Bristol Library, Special Collections amount tobeproud of: thisisoneofEurope’s great whovisit.showing itofftofriends We have ahuge will tell. meeveryThe city energises day andIlove may have beensubsumed intothateconomy. History successful inEurope. Somewould arguethatBristol to theSouthEasteconomy, whichisoneofthemost Heathrow. The cityhasbenefitedfrom closeproximity minutes from theworld’s mostconnected airport, but isalsolessthan90 the cityhasitsown airport connected: thecapitalisonly90minutes away; and attract thevery best staffandstudents. Itisbrilliantly It isawonderful, diverse placetolive andithelpsus theatre andtheBBCtorock music andanimation. cultural environment everything from featuring old, andyet itfeelsdynamicandyoung. Ithasarich and professional services. The cityisathousandyears creative industries, silicondesignandmanufacture, Science City. today are Itsmajorindustries aerospace, knowledgea modern city, anideascity, adesignated mercantile phasetobecome citythrough anindustrial in oneofitsheydays. Ithasmoved from beinga cityandiscurrently It isasuccessfulandenterprising University (andwe hopethatthereverse isalsotrue). nature ofthecityitself. isamajorassettothe Bristol 18 100

University of Bristol Library, Special Collections

University of Bristol Library, Special Collections University of Bristol Library, Special Collections what theirambitionsare andwhatthey are already of them. Just listeningtotheirconversation, hearing have connections. family There are usuallyaboutten West ofEngland, BathorSpawithwhomwe a pizzaany studentatBristol, the University ofthe favourite evening oftheyear iswhenItake outfor arrives. Ouracademicsare reinvigorated by them. My Every year we are renewed whenthelatestcohort the confidenceof youth –nothingisunachievable. of voluntary activity tothiscityeachyear. They have mesmerising. Ourstudentsgive around 100,000hours students are doing. Their values, talentandambitionare a bitdown, they shouldgoandseesomethingthe that ifthejobisgettingdifficultorthey are feeling have taken over thechairmanship. Ialways say tothem office,group aofwhich I newform vice-chancellors go ontobecomeitsambassadors. For theirfirst year in provide itsstimulus, they andthey are itsbeatingheart the end: thestudents. Studentsmake auniversity. They city, but Ihave groupuntil leftthemostimportant I have talked aboutthejob, theUniversity andthe louder. cities andmaybe we shouldshoutthatjustalittlebit

University of Bristol Library, Special Collections Sir PhilipMorris,Vice-Chancellor, 1946-66 Professor AMTyndall, ActingVice-Chancellor, 1945-46 Thomas Loveday, Vice-Chancellor, 1922-45 Below, lefttoright: Professor EFFrancis,ActingVice-Chancellor, 1921-22 Sir Isambard Owen,Vice-Chancellor, 1909-21 Professor ConwyLloydMorgan, Vice-Chancellor, 1909 Top, lefttoright:

University of Bristol Library, Special Collections University of Bristol Library, Special Collections force. This ispersonal. us 1995-2015offers The period I don’t regard thatasanything otherthana positive everything virtually Ido. informs and future ofBristol its development isareal privilege. For me, thesuccess To bethe inthisphase of Vice-Chancellor ofBristol are inthe21stcentury. around universities. That ishow universities important new towns andvillagesnow, they would bebuilt they were built around thefactory. Ifwe were building were built around themanor house; in times,Victorian the centre ofthat. In medieval times, towns andvillages are inaknowledge societyanduniversities at are right their localitiesaswell aswidersociety.transform We people,transform knowledge they andthey transform every day. Universities are forces forgood. They hyperbolic, but Iamonly tellingitasfeelstome Some may istooemotionalor thinkthisarticle should Igetthere, issafeintheirhands. challenges thatthefuture willdeliver. Myoldage, they willbemore thancapable ofdealingwiththe youngget fabulous peoplehere andIamclearthat doing refuels allmy ambitions forthisUniversity. We

University of Bristol Library, Special Collections University of Bristol Library, Special Collections the benefits. available andthat, 50years later, isstillreaping Bristol really seizedtheopportunities ofthe21stcentury part Chancellor says thattheUniversity intheearly leaders when allthat’s leftofmeisaportrait, thethen Vice- The bestreward formewould bethatin2060, and toensure thattheseinvestments are successful. onthework by started SirJohnjob tocarry Kingman investments atthisUniversity. in infrastructure It is my tomakethe unparalleledopportunity transformational

University of Bristol Library, Special Collections Sir JohnKingman,Vice-Chancellor, 1985-2001 Professor PeterHaggett,ActingVice-Chancellor, 1984-85 Below, lefttoright: Sir AlecMerrison,Vice-Chancellor, 1969-84 Professor ARCollar, Vice-Chancellor, 1968-69 Professor JEHarris,Vice-Chancellor, 1966-68 Top, lefttoright: 100 19

Reflections on a vice-chancellorship 1 2345678910 11

12 13

14 The four 15 16 17 18 19 cornerstones: 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 a centenary 27 28 29 30 31 32 crossword by 33 34 35 36 37 ESROM 38 39 40 41

CREDIT Across Down

The crossword will celebrate its centenary in 2013, four years after 1. Residence repeatedly showing future potential (5,4) 2. I cut a path to the top – it sounds like a Wagner hero the University of Bristol. Types of clue have differed over the years, 8. ‘Pow’ is a relatively objective term for Burns (4) introducing himself (3-3) 1 1 and this puzzle offers a medley of definitions, general knowledge, local 12. What’s 8 /2 x 3 /2 inches (6) 3. It makes a lout like a king? The reverse (5) 13. Pirate with his heart in his bottom (3-3) 4. Tricky problem with a meat dish, one for...... (3,6) knowledge and cryptic clues. The setter gratefully acknowledges help 14. Stone-blind I’m not (6-7) 5...... a bigwig, too (2,4) from Bandmaster and Phi. 15. US city attached to wrong state – take it out with 6. Heavy hint (4) rubber (5) 7. The relevant machine cut a strip of wood (4) There will be a £100 book token for the sender of the first correct solution (with 18. Seminars (9) 9. What Job’s horse said among the trumpets (2-2) the four cornerstones identified) received at the University of Bristol by 1 May 2009 20. What the creed itself needs? (2-4) 10. Workshop would be grander with street frontage (7) and subsequently drawn from the hat by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Eric Thomas. 22. Crime writer; magazine; band (5) 11. Vice-Chancellor conveyed by horse or car (6) The winner will be notified on 24 May 2009 – the 100th anniversary of the day on 25. Is it morally wrong about ‘first-class’? (5,4) 12. Even in fog will early birds assemble here (6) which the royal sign manual was attached to the University’s charter. With his or her 27. It’s irregularly formed, and so are they usually (5) 16. It’s said once with a blow and twice after it (5) permission, the winner’s name will be posted at www.bristol.ac.uk/centenary on that 29. International scout conference (6) 17. An anti-submarine mortar (5) date. The solution to the crossword, and the setter’s accompanying notes, will also be 31. May trees indicate a local watering hole? Yes (9) 19. Clue’s mine, unfortunately: light’s yours! (9) published at that web address on the same date. 36. Get the kid undressed (5) 21. ‘______but full of dash’ (old clue to setter’s code) (5) 37. Many a freak storm is shattering with its noise (13) 23. Uplifting start to environmental story gives one cheer (5) To submit an entry without defacing this book, complete and return the postcard that 38. What’s common (not U) about a former love is how 24. Once again started touching a festering sore (7) accompanies copies of the book issued or sold between the date of publication and it was! (6) 26. Maggiore’s smaller neighbour (6) the end of April 2009, or transcribe your solution on to a single sheet of paper and 39. ‘By his ______hat and staff, and his sandal shoon’ 27. MOT has failed a best-selling engine (6) indicate your name, telephone number and postal and/or email address. Either way, (Shak.) (6) 28. There’s copper and zinc in it, and sometimes tin (6) the four cornerstones must be identified. Send your entry to Barry Taylor, University 40. Tacked in all directions (4) 30. My voluntary service lends grace to degree-giving (6) of Bristol, Senate House, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TH, to arrive by 1 May 2009. 41. Big spouter spouted a cry of woe to the audience (4,5) 32. I’m aggressive, yet watchful at heart (5) 33. Recognised but little used, we hear (4) People involved in the compilation, editing and design of this book are not 34. End of smoking gives rise to objections (4) permitted to enter the competition. 35. It’s idyllic when you get past this test! (4)

134 100 100 135 direct collaboration I have benefited enormously, even though my approach to physics has sometimes appeared solitary. In addition, my fellow professors and lecturers have displayed generosity and congeniality, perfectly exemplifying the co-operative spirit that animates science, contrasting sharply with the competitiveness that the media loves to emphasise but which is in fact relatively rare.

Physicists, especially theoretical physicists, have the reputation, perhaps not entirely unjustified, of adopting an attitude of intellectual superiority. I have already mentioned the fact that our department is at the top of Bristol. An even more appropriate location occurred to me during one of the balloon rides for which our city is celebrated: ballooning is the perfect occupation for a theoretical physicist – looking down on the world, supported by hot air.

Wattie Cheung

Julia Donaldson is the author of many best-selling books for children, including The Gruffalo, The Snail and the Whale and The Giants and the Joneses. She has also written children’s plays and songs, and runs regular storytelling workshops. She was a student at the University of Bristol from 1967 and 1970 and it was there that she met her husband, Malcolm, who became a paediatrician. From ‘Greensleeves’ to Gruffalo

Julia Donaldson

148 100 100100 149 57 150 student, thefour ofuswent busking round thepubsin Maureen,Along withmy friend afellow drama his room-mate, aguitar-playing mediccalledMalcolm. IHaven’tI’m Sorry aClue), andheintroduced meto (now well known inRadio4’s for hisparticipation improvise inamood-reflecting way. He was ColinSell There was apianistinthatplay, whoalsohadto blue, green, yellow, trees. orangeandpurple clapped ahandbehindmy back, tobecopiedby the occasion whenmy brastrapsnappedandIinstinctively told todowhatIdid, withacomicalresult onone and was appointedChief Tree. The othertrees were mood ofthescene. Iwas rathergoodattheswaying and sway either violentlyorgentlyaccording tothe red) andwe hadtostandonstagethroughout theplay were sixtrees, eachdressed inadifferent colour(Iwas I Am NottheEiffel Tower, inwhichIactedatree. There Illingworth. Another, ratherpretentious, play was called lead was taken calledDavid by adashingpostgraduate peasant wench inMolière’s DomJuan, inwhichthe lot ofplays. remember beingagullible Iparticularly I was studyingDramaandFrench, andactedina costofbaconends. about therising would bump inthestreet intoyour andtalk friends Worcester Terrace, whichfeltlike playing houses. You (ecstatic, actually)tomove outintoanatticflat in Corridor, but by theendofyear Iwas very happy withtheotheroccupantsofD and madefriends to boarding school, Iquiteliked my cubicle-like room her (orelseclimbover thewall). Never having been appointment toseethewarden andobtainakey from if you wanted tostay outlateyou hadtomake an afternine, –nomalevisitors supervised strictly and My hallofresidence, CliftonHillHouse, was own right. countryside, aswell asbeinganattractive placeinits yet from separatedonlyby real theSuspensionBridge seemed tome, tobesoneartown anduniversity and loved Cliftonwhichmanaged, almostmiraculouslyit also living somewhere otherthanLondon. Iinstantly moving away from my parentstime, forthefirst and was abigadventureGoing toBristol forme. Itmeant 100 us dozensofBeatlessongs, from plusnumbers the arrived, withabattered guitarandstraw hat, andtaught when Malcolm(theguitar-playing medic)suddenly All theFlowers Gone’, andwere therefore thrilled our repertoire, even oncewe’d added ‘Where Have went round withthehat. We didgetalittle tired of ‘Plaisir D’Amour’ and ‘Blowing inthe Wind’, andthen the ChampsElysées, where we sang ‘Greensleeves’, and we would setoutmostevenings forthecaféson and Icouldeachplay aboutthree chords ontheguitar, Bristol, but we gotround thatby busking. Maureen wasParis amuch more expensive citytolive inthan ‘Je veux quel’actionsepasseàl’ombre.’ properly; whenImentionedthistohim, hereplied: odd lightingplan, inwhichnooneseemedtobelit the producer, anardent Pole, haddesignedratheran advertisements forwashing machines. Inoticedthat with from Spanishcomedyinterspersed a17th-century operating thelightsforaplay thatconsistedofscenes onstage.in whichapigeonwas sacrificed I was penguins andcycledthrough theaudience, andanother plays. There was oneinwhichthecastdressed upas experimental the world rehearsedandperformed the CitéUniversitaire, inwhichstudentsfrom round the lectures. We were in alsodoingadramacourse which I’mafraidwe than foundmore entertaining Maureen was Proust andIwas Petite Madeleine, the petitemadeleine. We developed adouble-act where temps perdu every timehehadabiteofcake called seemed tobeabouthow Proust was wafted intothe Sorbonne but grew weary of thelectures, whichall We were supposedtobestudyingFrench atthe ceiling-high withdecadesofnewspapers. an ancientEnglishwoman whoseroom was stacked hippy studentsandtravellers ofevery nationality, plus seedy hotelintheLatinQuarter. with Itwas brimming oursuburban digsinfavourdeserted ofaroom ina other DramaandFrench students. Maureen andIsoon In my secondyear, Iwas senttoParis, alongwiththe Looking BehindMe’ from SaladDays.) fromnumbers shows. hitwas (Ourgreatest ‘If IStart RAG week, amixture of’60spopsongsand singing (continued onpage 152) Julia Donaldson A dayinmylife Writing it–theeasypart. Writing planned! Story Tomorrow, start andsaveChildren run thewhale. Crawls onblackboard, leaves atrail. . . (Quite aneasyword torhyme.) withslime! towrite Snail couldlearn again: Inspiration strikes Have bath–that’s when Practise piano. Play Backgammon. Open bottle. Cooksalmon. Joined by son, laterspouse. Answer questions. Backtohouse. Blind tomy accusinglooks.) (Teacher sitsthere markingbooks, Kids joininwitheverything. Tell astory, actandsing. Thank goodness, notfar. That’s today! Leapincar. ‘Monday, Brookwood Library’. .Check diary . . shocked tosee School, requesting authorvisit. Phone rings. Who isit? Go offsnail. Considerduck. Back home, getstuck. Snail thenrescues whale–but how??? Leeched? Well never mind, justnow.) (Rhyme aproblem . . . reached? Beseeched? climax –whalegetsbeached! Brilliant (Big grin, eartoear): Out toshops. Getidea Giant gave away histie. wonders whyLittle girl ofGruffalo. Date ofbirth Little boy wants toknow Read it, over sliceoftoast. Feed cats. Openpost. Can’t think. Feel vexed. Chew pen. What next? Maybe teamherupwithwhale? Scratch head. Dream upsnail. Sit atdesk–mustn’t shirk. Son toschool. Spousetowork. Dislodge cats. Getup. Tea inbed. Secondcup. 100 151

From Greensleeves to Gruffalo musical Hair. Our busking act was transformed, and at guinea pig’s fur the right way. A publisher was on the one stage we were spotted by a record producer, who phone, asking if they could use the words of one of my wined, dined and recorded us. Although no contract songs, ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’, as a children’s picture actually ensued, he encouraged us to write our own book. songs. We set a French poem called ‘Metamorphosis’ to music, and I also wrote a few soulful songs about how I Once I had that book in my hand, with its vivid and was missing my boyfriend. witty illustrations by Axel Scheffler, I knew I wanted to write more books – a lot more. I still loved writing the Back in Bristol, the relationship with the pined-for songs, but the market was drying up and also they were boyfriend didn’t work out, and before long Malcolm so ephemeral. After a number of plays for schools and and I were an item. We started doing cabaret for quite a few rejection letters, I eventually came up with various student events, and during our holidays would The Gruffalo, which has led a charmed life, and since go busking, often writing songs to suit the country. then I have been pretty solidly writing rhyming books (The best one was in Italian about pasta.) We also as well as some plays and novels for older children. joined the Bristol Street Theatre, formed by David Illingworth of Dom Juan fame, devising and performing The books led to demands for author visits, and when entertainments for children in more deprived areas of Malcolm could spare the time from his job the city. We did shows about Guy Fawkes and circuses he would join me to act a kind giant, a stupid dragon,

and bog men, which probably had a greater influence a wicked Emperor and, of course, the Gruffalo. We’ve Dave Pratt on my later writing than the Ibsen and Strindberg I’d now developed this act into an hour-long theatrical been studying in the Drama Department. Dave went show, including several songs. Although no one on to write for the Old Vic until he died of cancer is throwing money into the hat, we feel the same Simon Burgess is a Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol when he was only thirty. exuberance as we did in our Bristol busking days. and Director of the Centre for Market and Public Organisation – one of three research centres comprising the Bristol Institute of Public My songwriting eventually developed into a rather on- Affairs, which opened in 2007. and-off career, writing to order for children’s television. The BBC would phone me and ask for ‘one song about roller-skating and another about horrible smells, by next Tuesday’. On one occasion, they sent me six postcards from a museum in Belfast with instructions The scientists and to write a song about what a wonderful museum it was. (I had to include one verse about a polar bear, another about a prehistoric fish and another about a the policymakers vintage car.)

Malcolm and I moved from Bristol but then returned Simon Burgess there when he worked as a doctor in the Children’s Hospital on St Michael’s Hill. Our own children went to school nearby, only a stone’s throw from the Drama Department, yet a world away.

It wasn’t till 20 years after graduating and a move to Glasgow that I received the phone call that was to change my life. This time it wasn’t a request for a song about wearing light colours at night or stroking your

152 100 100100 153 57 Tim Pigott-Smith graduated in Drama from the University of Bristol, trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and began his professional acting career at the Bristol Old Vic in 1969. He has played leading roles with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre and has starred in such outstanding television series as The Jewel in the Crown and The Chief. His films include Clash of the Titans, Escape to Victory, The Remains of the Day and V for Vendetta. He is also a distinguished director and a frequent broadcaster. In 2008, the University made him an honorary Doctor of Letters.

City of ghosts

Tim Pigott-Smith herine S h a kes p e re La ne Cat 100 157 materialise in the auditorium occasionallytowatch intheauditorium materialise stage area, andthere was alittleoldmanwhousedto beneath thestageandwas saidtohaunttheunder- used tobetwo –SarahSiddons’ lover hangedhimself the Theatre Royal didnotsurvive therebuilding. There have lostsomeofitsatmosphere. Perhaps theghostsof When thetheatre was reopened in1972, it seemedto one ofEngland’s oldestandbesttheatres. way toachieving itstarget, againfor andhopeisrising glad tosay thattherefurbishment appealiswell onthe disrepair that, this, asIwrite thetheatre isclosed. Iam refurbishment thateventually fellintosuchtragic Coopers’ Hall andtheNew Vic was added. Itisthis In therebuild, thetheatre was joinedtothe systems. booking comparedand personal withcomputerised booking sheets–they seemedso straightforward swatheshomely messandthegreat ofpencil-marked The pokey littlebox officedisappeared, too. Iloved its time thatthedowdy entrancewas knocked down. demolished, tothemodernisation. prior Itwas atthat and tiny itlooked when everything around ithadbeen was retained. auditorium an 18th-century How fragile was closedforrefurbishment. The shellofthatgem Old When IlefttheBristol Vic in1970, thetheatre to avoid backinthesixties. beyond thetheatre. Itwas ofthecityyou apart tended much –althoughthere have beenhugechangesdown docks have ambiencethatdoesn’t acertain alterthat is anarea whichretains asimilarfeeltoday and –rivers spend more timedown thehillincitycentre. This Old the Bristol Vic Theatre Company thatIbeganto It wasn’t untilIbecameaprofessional actorandjoined before you. present thatthephantomsofpastappearreadily where timeremembered existssocloselywithtime lined streets andseenoapparent change. This isaplace Vic Theatre School, you can walk many ofthetree- five asastudentattheUniversityyears andthe Old pleasures ofgoingbackisthatinClifton, where Ispent For me, isaplaceofghosts. Bristol Oneofthegreat 158 100 The Old Vic Theatre School upontheDowns has the scaleofUniversity’s. conditions coulddowithan investment on atenthof at theOld Vic inLondon, where thebackstage dreadful places.in notoriously working Iam currently ideal preparation forthelifeofanactor–we rehearse could arguethatlectures inleakingNissenhutswere rough, but itnever seemedtomatter. Indeed, you Drama Department. Conditionswere always pretty dealofmoneygreat inimproving inthe thefacilities impecunious time, my oldUniversity isinvesting a institution isgoingthrough aself-questioningand Old when theBristol Vic isclosed, andtheatre asan It isastrangeandwonderful irony thatatatime fact, but justthosenamesare redolent ofanotherage. numbers. Inow know that mostofthishasnobasisin which the ‘Whiteladies’ were saidtogoinconsiderable publicly taken toslave auctionsonBlackboy Hill–to Downs. Itwas thoughtthathere they couldbeless pub andtaken through theundergroundtunnelto were shippedintothecitycentre, bundled intothe slavecalled triangular trade. wasThe rumour thatslaves had beendeeplyinvolved oftheso- inthehorrors romantic, was but saidtobedarker. itspurpose Bristol ran alltheway uptotheDowns. That soundsquite Hippodrome,The Bristol anunderground passage There wasthatfrom astory thepubnextdoorto queue andjostleforposition. thatoncerodeschooners thetidewhere now cars ofthetall-masted sepia pictures intheCityLibrary water thatoncefloodedwholearea. Ilove the islands couldbemagickedaway andreplaced by the andtheidioticallyre-crafted traffic misery motorised new intervention. itwould How beifthe glorious now-ruined spotseemstobemadeworse withevery Mead, back. Iyearnfortheclocktobeputright This congestion inSt Augustine’s Parade andLewins always improvements. bring Lookingatthetraffic Time may ghosts, ormay notbring but itdoesn’t ghosts willmaterialise. rehearsals. Maybe they have moved on, andnewer their ghostsaseasilyImeetmine. walk itsstreets now andmeet willbeable toreturn years. Ihopenot. Ilike tothinkthatthestudentswho thatCliftonwillchangemuch inthecoming imagine city from the daystrangely atmospheric I arrived. I can’t is easilymemorable foreveryone, a but IfoundBristol The placewhere you spendformative timeinyour life Some ghostsinthere! play,first TheRoom, inthatstudio. was performed first bellinthetowerchimes ofthegreat above. And Pinter’s Noh dramas, thevibrationsfrom thehourly ignoring everything from plays theclassicstosurrealist and Yeats’s that splendidbuilding. We didamazingplays inthere – windowless, darkroom atthesideofmainhallin Building. Inourday, theDramaStudiowas inalarge, with herrecently intheUniversity’s Wills Memorial whonever friend left Bristol.Drama Department Iwas have seenfourofmy contemporaries. Ihave oneold made uscloseasgroups–inthepastweek alone, I for thosewhotaughtuswas oneofthethingsthat ofthelastthem.in memory Shared admiration onmycome down day toBristol offforacelebration teachers.legendary this,As Iwrite Iamaboutto andattheSchoolwethe DramaDepartment had My fellow studentsandIwere lucky–inboth profound influenceon my life. of my mindforlong. They are living ghostswhohada me there, andattheDramaDepartment, are rarely out dimensions, thesmellofthem. The peoplewhotaught those rooms asifitwere yesterday –thecolour, the of two oldhousesjoinedtogether. Icanremember studio, but mostoftherooms we usedwere part also expandedrecently. Inmy time, we hadonenewish

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City of ghosts Hodgkin realised that her Nobel laurels could be turned to good use in support of other causes that were important to her. A lifelong socialist, she avoided political rhetoric but embraced dialogue between all nations and beliefs. As Chancellor at Bristol she took a close interest in the well-being of international students, helping to found Hodgkin House in her husband’s memory. She campaigned vigorously against cuts in university budgets. Having passionately opposed the war in Vietnam, in 1975 she became President of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, which brought together scientists from East and West to campaign against nuclear weapons. She made many visits to China, India and other developing countries, encouraging the exchange of students and scientists with the better-resourced institutions of the developed world. She urged Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who had been her student at Somerville, to

engage with the Soviet Union. Dave Pratt

Despite her great eminence, Dorothy Hodgkin was gentle, modest and quietly-spoken, always Misha Glenny is a distinguished journalist and historian. He graduated putting people at their ease: she insisted that even in Drama and German from the University of Bristol in 1980. the most junior of her colleagues call her Dorothy. As correspondent first for The Guardian and then for the BBC, he Although she hated the phrase ‘role model’, she chronicled the collapse of communism and the wars in the former encouraged many women to continue with careers Yugoslavia. He has won several major awards for his work, including in crystallography, partly by her example and partly through the direct help and support she gave them. the Sony Gold Award for his outstanding contribution to broadcasting. She showed tremendous courage, not only in forging The author of three books on Eastern Europe and the Balkans, he a successful career in a new field of research, but also has regularly been consulted by the US and European governments in coping with the increasing pain of arthritis, which on major policy issues. For three years he ran an NGO assisting with afflicted her from the age of 28. In the summer of the reconstruction of Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo. He now lives in 1993, although confined to a wheelchair, she made a final visit to Beijing for the International Congress London. His latest book, McMafia, is about global organised crime. of Crystallography. Her friends and colleagues from all over the world were thrilled and moved to see her there, dedicated to the last to sharing in a great scientific adventure. From Bristol to

Dorothy Hodgkin died peacefully at home on 29 July 1994. Mr Big

Misha Glenny

164 100 100100 165 57 Ra ndom H ouse UK I used to play musical cafés in order to avoid the Furthermore, he was the most shocking character I McMafia: crime without frontiers by Misha Glenny attention of the communist secret police when met as I travelled the world for three years meeting

meeting dissidents in communist Eastern Europe. mobsters, policemen, victims and lawyers for my book Bristol to Mr Big From But heading for a soulless shopping mall in the Worli about global organised crime, McMafia. I say shocking district of Mumbai was different. I was waiting for a because this cold-blood killer was an educated and signal not from an oppressed political activist but from urbane man with a degree in engineering who offered an assassin. perceptive comments on the social and economic issues facing India. When it came, by mobile phone, I walked to a café about 100 yards away and sat down at the appointed At one point in our conversation, I had to wait table. Five minutes. Another message. Up I got, playing while he dropped into a mosque to say prayers; he the dumb foreigner with the bemused waiter, and then resumed talking lyrically about Mumbai and its moved to another café three doors down. Once again, traditions. And also telling me how he killed victims I was instructed by text message to sit at a table next to in their cars when they stopped at traffic lights: ‘The some other people. first team approached the car and broke the window glass. Then I went in and boom – straight at the head Like a ghost, Mahmood was suddenly on the bench .... Once it was done, I disappeared. I never went home next to me. The elaborate ritual, he explained, was for after a job and no-one knew where I was.’ security purposes. ‘There was a police inspector I know by sight in the first café,’ he said. ‘He probably wouldn’t It was almost impossible to reconcile his warmth and have noticed but I do not take risks. Also it is always erudition with the knowledge of what he had done, important to sit next to people who are already there whacking over 20 men. How can I be warming to a Cold War period through the media of stage and film. economy that had emerged after the collapse of – it’s the people who come and sit next to you after murderer, I asked myself? Indeed, how in God’s name communism and the advent of globalisation, I had you’ve arrived that you have to be careful about.’ had I ended up here in the first place? At university After university, I ended up taking a British Council actually met a few Mr Bigs around the region. I felt that I had studied drama – how could that have funneled course in Prague to learn Czech. While ostensibly if I were to understand the brave new world of global I noticed that Mahmood had placed himself close to me into a life, if not of organised crime, then of one in studying the dramatic theories of the novelist and crime, I would need to meet their counterparts in other

v the back exit. ‘I have to watch out for trigger-happy close proximity to the mob? playwright, Karel Capek, I was in fact embarking on countries. I was not primarily interested in judging police officers and some of my former colleagues,’ a criminal career, smuggling books and dismembered them but in understanding their motives, their desires he continued. Mumbai is the home of the police Like many first-year drama students at Bristol, I had Xerox machines to dissident organisations like and how they perceived themselves and their position ‘encounter’, where officers take out known gangsters nurtured quiet fantasies about treading the boards of Solidarity in Poland and Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia. within the emerging world order. in bloody shootouts and then ask questions later. the Royal Shakespeare Company or hitting the red carpet on Oscar night. Fortunately I’m reasonably Before long I had struck out on my own to become a I started my search in the former Soviet Union, I had already met Mumbai’s Encounter King, Inspector sober when assessing my own capabilities, and while freelance journalist in Vienna, covering Eastern Europe. where familiarity with the territory gave me a Pradeep Sharma, who has killed over 120 gangsters, they still talk reverently of my performance as one of This led me to the Balkans, and the appalling wars of real advantage. Nonetheless, meeting with one of and I didn’t want to stand in the way if Sharma and the ugly sisters in Cinderella (alongside Gregory Doran, Yugoslav succession that broke out in Croatia in 1991. Ukraine’s top gangsters in the Black Sea port of Odessa Mahmood were to ‘encounter’ each other. now star Shakespearean director at the RSC), Olivier I There followed the slow realisation over the next proved stressful and involved a surprising amount of was not. decade that, in contrast to the received wisdom, this paperwork. Mr Big’s assistants demanded the sort of Mahmood was a retired hitman. Short and wiry, he war had much less to do with ethnic hatred (as many form-filling that usually accompanies an interview with was also sharp-featured and very good-looking, if a The great blessing of the Drama Department is that supposed) and a hell of a lot more to do with organised a president. Among other things, he wanted to know all little weather-beaten. During the 1990s, he was one there is so much more to it than acting, directing or crime, as syndicates from all Balkan countries indulged the questions I was going to ask him in advance. of Mumbai’s most successful assassins. He had once set designing. I was fortunate in being taught by three in an orgy of violence, larceny and primitive capital worked for D-Company, the most powerful organised academic and practical masters in theatre and cinema: accumulation. Each time I went to see a Mr Big, I was slightly crime syndicate in India, run by the renowned Ted Braun, Martin White and the late George Brandt, nervous. Frankly, having covered the wars in Bosnia and gangster, Dawood Ibrahim. all of whom encouraged me to explore my intense By the time I had figured out that the Balkans had a Croatia, I had already spent periods of several months fascination with Eastern Europe and the politics of the very specific role to play in the new global shadow facing bullets and mortar attacks, so a fear of imminent

166 100 100 167 death was no novelty. But with the gangsters the fear was relieved that the MB members had chosen a café was different: I felt utterly alone, with a powerful in a shopping mall for the meet. In a public place, it sense that if anything did happen, there would be no was much less probable that I would end up being witnesses and I would simply disappear without a trace. bundled into a car.

When the Odessa Don finally granted my wish, On this occasion, too, I learned a huge amount about it was prefaced by the musical café nonsense. The the motives for these people’s actions and the methods little tea-shop where we finally met was close to they used. ‘We became engaged in kidnapping in the Derebasovskaya, a fashionable shopping street running early 1990s soon after we had set up the cells here up from the sea. It was so dingy that I could hardly in Cali,’ the two doctors, one male and one female, make out Mr Big, especially as his two minders explained. They described a life living underground, were permanently smoking. Mr Big was gruff and moving from flat to flat, and told of how their unpleasant and only agreed to talk because he trusted followers regularly engaged in shoot-outs with rival the intermediary. We spoke for about three quarters of right-wing gangs for control of the drug trade in Cali’s an hour. Except for an off-the-record verbal attack on barrios. They were quite open about the movement’s his main opponent, he would only discuss the main drug trafficking, claiming that this was the only way object of my research – Karabas, Odessa’s legendary that the peasants growing the coke could get a decent gangster, gunned down in April 1997 when Chechen wage. They argued that the death and destruction gangsters and one of Moscow’s biggest organised the business caused was all legitimate because of the crime groups started fighting over control of the port, FARC’s ideological struggle. the main export terminal for Russian oil. Whenever I tentatively tried to get him on to the subject of these Whether cannabis exporters in Canada, traffickers of Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, who studied medicine at Bristol, has more recent events, he and his minders made it very women in Israel or yakuza protection rackets in Japan, been the Chief Medical Officer for , and the UK’s Chief clear with their scowls that this was forbidden territory. they all had one thing in common – they were really, Medical Adviser, since 1998. He holds critical responsibilities across the really clever and they took their business extremely whole field of and health care and advises the Secretary Mr Big and his entourage in Odessa were probably seriously. These guys are not going to go away in a of State for Health, the Prime Minister and other government the most intimidating in their style. But a few months hurry. later I was at it again, arranging a rendezvous through ministers. He is also recognised as an international champion of patient a journalist contact with two senior representatives of safety and has chaired the World Health Organization World Alliance the Movimiento Bolivariano (MB) in Cali, the biggest for Patient Safety since its launch in 2004. centre of Colombia’s cocaine industry. The MB is the urban wing of the FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia which keep 17,000 men, women and children under arms. Ostensibly involved in a Pointing true Marxist-inspired revolutionary struggle, the FARC is in fact ‘an organised crime syndicate in fatigues’, as one dispassionate observer told me. north They do grant occasional interviews in order to get their point across. But they are just as likely to kidnap the supplicant journalist as they are to answer his or Liam Donaldson her questions. My intermediary and I approached the meeting place with considerable caution in case we were being followed by Colombia’s secret police (whose reputation is as unforgiving as the FARC’s). I

168 100 100100 169 57 ‘Man, what a crowded scene.’ That was the way my worried whether we were doing enough to preserve companion reacted to the packed Freshers’ Week their humanity. I wanted them to be centred on their event we both attended. He seemed more in tune patients as human beings. I wanted them to be ‘extra- with the times – 1967 – than I was. Shoulder-length milers’. hair, floral-patterned shirt, dark glasses (even though it was a rainy October morning). My mother had When I became Chief Medical Officer in 1998, I dressed and sent me away in her image of a university was conscious that I was entering a complex political student: short back and sides, Harris tweed jacket, grey environment and moving into Whitehall. I was flannel trousers, white shirt and tie. Her louche flourish conscious, too, of the history of the post: I was only the – Hush Puppies – wasn’t right either. I had never 15th person to be appointed Chief Medical Officer wanted my hair to grow as quickly as I did that first since 1855. I had left clinical practice behind many term. The student uniform was quickly consigned to years ago. As the ‘nation’s doctor’, my patients were the Salvation Army, but when I returned to my small 50 million strong and I wanted to serve them well. I northern town for Christmas I was equally out of tune needed a personal credo to guide my work and my with the slow pace of the sixties revolution up there. decisions. I returned to the fundamental principles Flower power bloomed late in Rotherham. and values learned all those years ago when I stood in my short white coat around the bedside in Bristol’s With the sixties in full swing, it was an exciting time . Putting the public’s needs first – and not just

to be a student; but after the first two years, becoming sometimes. Being honest and open, especially at times Nick Smith a clinical medical student demanded a degree of of crisis. Speaking out without fear or favour when conformity and more. As we moved through the wards necessary. of Bristol’s hospitals, exposure to death, disease and Dr Stella Clarke, CBE was a member of the University of Bristol’s suffering was both a sobering and maturing influence These are some of the ways that I positioned the Chief governing body, Council, from 1982 to 2004 and Chairman for ten on hedonistic youth. Medical Officer’s role. Sometimes uncomfortable, of those years. She was one of the University’s Pro Chancellors from sometimes attracting criticism, sometimes stressful, I 1997 to 2007, and was made an Honorary Fellow in 2008. She was Our text on clinical method written by Bristol’s have never regretted always pointing myself to ‘true a magistrate in Bristol for 38 years and is a former Chairman of the then Professor of Medicine, Alan Read, was called north’. The Clinical Apprentice. We were indeed apprentices, Bench. She spent 25 years as a local government councillor and has modelling our practice, behaviour and attitudes on Today’s British medical students are taught the things served as a governor of the BBC. She was Vice Lord-Lieutenant of the our masters, many of whom were inspirational and that I, and my classmates, learned by hit and miss. County and City of Bristol. deeply impressive. We saw senior doctors introduce Medical education is the better for modernising its themselves to patients, look them in the eye and shake curricula, but we baby boomers owe a great deal to the their hands. We saw them listening with respect. We education we received in the summers (and winters) of saw them revisit a diagnosis that did not seem to make love. A seed sown in sense. We saw them worrying about a patient who was not getting better when they should have been. In short, we saw them go the extra mile time after time to Australia achieve the highest standards of care. And these values and virtues infused our own practice as we began to climb the career ladder ourselves. Stella Clarke Later in my career, I was a medical teacher myself. The young women and men who came into the medical schools where I worked were bombarded with knowledge and technological opportunities. I

170 100 100100 171 57 metres (five feet) long, half of which was slender tail. We tell the story in a different way to the older The individual bones are little larger than those of a children, presenting it as a detective story, where clues five-year-old human child. And Thecodontosaurus was are unearthed and conclusions are reached. We have a herbivore – this means we can’t show big, pointed them perform calculations, such as working out how teeth, or tell gruesome stories to the children about fast a dinosaur was running from its trackway, or what how it hunted. Thecodontosaurus had a head little larger would be the largest possible size for a dinosaur. This than your hand and its teeth were more feeble even leads to a strong message that academic study at school than ours, adapted for tearing at ferns and tree leaves. can open whole worlds to everyone, and particularly that career prospects for young people with science Nonetheless, the Bristol dinosaur has proved to be a degrees are excellent. The fact that there are enormous hit with local schools. The children enjoy the fact that numbers of jobs at the moment for geologists does us it is a dinosaur and it lived in Bristol, even if it is of no harm at all in attempting to persuade the young modest and unassuming British dimensions. As ever people. in education, having a theme that hooks the children’s interest is crucial, and the Bristol dinosaur is a We feel multiply beleaguered – many of the children wonderful entrée to presentations about concepts such have lost interest in schoolwork of any kind, and might as geological time, continental drift, climate change and not be planning to go to university. Others may be evolution. For older children, it offers an introduction planning to take an easy route through A-levels by to the fascination of science as a career, illuminating studying unusual subjects. Our message, of course, is the way in which palaeontologists (like all scientists) to devote time to study and to stick with traditional search for clues and put together working hypotheses sciences and languages as the best route to a good from clever associations and some lateral thinking. university place and a satisfying job afterwards. Will Hutton, who graduated from the University of Bristol in 1971 and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University in 2003, is At various times, the Department of Earth Sciences We do not know how many of the children in and Chief Executive of The Work Foundation. He was Editor-in-Chief of has employed a ‘Bristol Dinosaur Education Officer’, around Bristol who have had a ‘Bristol dinosaur’ show The Observer for four years and still writes a weekly column for the an enthusiastic young student who communicates were stimulated by the event to work harder or to paper. He has written several best-selling economics books, including with local schools and goes out to give talks and apply to go to university. However, feedback evidence presentations. Our experiences in schools have always shows the huge impact of such school visits, and we The World We’re In and The State We’re In. His latest book is The Writing been positive. Even in challenging schools, the children are happy to continue with them. As a first step to a on the Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century. are fascinated by the story – something that is not broader scheme that will extend the work to schools remote like a television documentary, but immediate across the UK and further, we have worked with the Alexandra Jones worked at the former Department for Education and and on their doorstep. Of course, it is easy to take the Geologists’ Association, the Geological Society of Skills and at the Institute for Public Policy Research before becoming story out to children in junior schools – they will listen London and the Earth Science Teachers’ Association Associate Director at The Work Foundation. She runs the Ideopolis to almost anything by someone who is not a regular to produce a series of talks aimed at two age groups in research programme, investigating how cities can be economically teacher. We feared at first that young teenagers might schools (eight- to nine-year-olds and 14- to 15-year successful and sustainable in the knowledge economy. be more cynical and harder to engage, but that has olds). The work has been funded by Shell, and we hope actually not been our experience at all. to offer 20 or more talks eventually. Katy Morris graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2007 and has been working as an Assistant Researcher on the Ideopolis For the youngsters, we focus on the dinosaurs – the 2009 is the year of Darwin, while 2008 was UNESCO children love showing what they know, and they shout Year of Planet Earth: to celebrate either, or both, we are programme. out the names of dinosaurs they recognise from the keen to continue to talk about the earth sciences and slide show. The children can also interpret the evidence evolution to any young people who care to listen! – for example, whether a particular dinosaur was a meat-eater (sharp teeth) or not. Bristol: Ideopolis?

Will Hutton, with Alexandra Jones and Katy Morris

222 100 100 223 I was an undergraduate in the Bristol of the late 1960s education and healthcare. Contrast this with the by basic manufacturing: we are now what is often to national productivity because of the importance of and early 1970s. The port was decaying; shipbuilding average in Great Britain of 54 per cent. The levels of called a ‘knowledge economy’. Since the 1970s it exchanging knowledge. Ideas and innovation happen in Bristol Ideopolis? was in decline; the city centre was a tribute to post-war knowledge-intensive employment are now so high has been knowledge-intensive manufacturing and places, and institutions such as the University of Bristol brutalist redevelopment and Clifton was a rabbit warren that Bristol could be classified as what we at The Work services that have generated the most new jobs and play a vital role in the creative mix by contributing ideas, of crumbling bedsits and student flats. But there was still Foundation term an ‘Ideopolis’ – a highly successful productivity in the UK. Companies that have prospered innovation and people to the mix. a buzz in the air. The place felt it could go somewhere – ‘knowledge city’ that drives growth in the wider region. in all sectors have done so by using new information nobody quite knew where. Only some of its social indicators let Bristol down as an and communication technologies to become highly At times there has inevitably been some tension Ideopolis. innovative and fast at creating tailored products to meet between the University’s aspirations in terms of research, Today we know. Bristol is one of Britain’s most increasingly sophisticated customers’ needs. Globalisation prestige and global reach, and its responsibilities to the successful cities, with a remarkable capacity for Bristol’s Ideopolis status has partly developed because has both accelerated the sophistication of customer local community. Recognising that its international reinvention and transformation. From a small of historic good fortune. The growth of BAE Systems, demands and increased the speed at which businesses focus has on occasion come at the expense of the Roman settlement to a centre of manufacturing and Rolls Royce and Airbus in and around Bristol has need to respond. city of Bristol, the University has made positive steps shipbuilding (and, we should not forget, the slave trade); been built on the founding of the British and Colonial towards shifting the balance in recent years. Part of this from being overtaken by the fast-growing industrial Aeroplane Company in Filton in 1910, enabling the The effects on the UK economy of this growing involves collaborating more with the University of the centres of Manchester and Liverpool to thriving once city to build a reputation in this area. But attracting importance of knowledge are startling. Between 1995 West of England, the University of Bath and Bath Spa more based on aerospace and financial service industries; and retaining these highly skilled jobs has not just been and 2005, 12 new jobs were created in knowledge- University, as seen in the Science City Bristol initiative. Bristol has continually adapted to the changing wider about history. If it had been just about history, then intensive industries for every one new job created in Collaboration between the universities is also evident economy. Bristol would not have displayed such deep structural other industries. When financial and professional services, in SPark, the £300 million science park for Bristol and economic problems during the 1980s, or declined so high-tech manufacturing, and education and healthcare Bath, which will create accommodation for specialist At the heart of each reincarnation lies the city’s ability badly in the early 1990s recession. are included in the definition of knowledge-intensive science and technology businesses and an estimated to build on its natural assets and to innovate. Its port industries – the Eurostat definition – nearly half of all 6,000 new, highly skilled jobs, with obvious benefits for helped the shipbuilding industry thrive; when this Instead, Bristol has become an Ideopolis because it has employment in the UK is now in knowledge-intensive the city as a whole. declined, the city built on its existing manufacturing provided a constant supply of new ideas, research and industries. expertise to develop a fledging (currently flourishing) highly skilled workers, as well as a high quality of life to Nonetheless, despite its advantages, the city of Bristol aerospace industry. Now the city is undergoing an help attract and retain its workers and its companies. The Firms are also putting their money where their mouth is continues to face real difficulties. Poor quality transport intellectual renaissance that is supporting everything universities have played a vital role in this in different in this changing economy. In 1970, firms were investing infrastructure inhibits the ability of the city to make from high-tech manufacturing to thriving local creative ways and, at its centenary, it is timely to review what just £4 on ‘intangible’ investments – research and the most of its access to a region of highly skilled industries, notably the BBC’s Natural History Unit. role the University of Bristol in particular has played in development, software, marketing, training and design workers. There remain pockets of seemingly intractable contributing to the recent success of the city. – for every £10 on traditional investment in ‘tangible’ deprivation in the south of the city and too high a So what are the assets on which this recent, machines, tools, computers and buildings. The balance proportion of the workforce with low-level skills, further intellectually-driven economic growth has been built? It is clear that the international focus of the University has shifted entirely. As understanding customers and reinforced by the quality of many of the state secondary In part this is about Bristol benefiting from a highly of Bristol has played an important role in developing the responding to their needs matters more, all industries schools in the city. In the long term, these poor schools skilled population: over a third of the population are city of Bristol’s international brand. The University has and forms of economic activity are increasingly relying affect the sustainability of the supply of skilled labour, graduates, many graduating from the 100-year-old long been an institution that attracts high quality young on ‘intangibles’ such as brand and marketing to derive whilst inadequate transport reduces labour mobility. University of Bristol or the University of the West of people to live and study in the area, as well as producing comparative advantage, and spending on the creation When combined with the persistently high levels of England in the city, or the nearby University of Bath high quality and globally renowned research. These and exploitation of knowledge and other intangible inequality, this poses a threat to Bristol’s status as an and Bath Spa University. activities are prestigious and raise the profile of the city, assets has tripled over the past 30 years. In 2004, for Ideopolis. as well as providing local businesses with a constant every £10 firms invested in machines, tools, computers But these highly skilled workers are attracted to Bristol supply of high quality labour and access to high quality and buildings, they invested £13 on the intangible The University cannot and should not attempt to from all over this and other countries because it offers ideas. investments which contribute to their responsiveness and address all of these challenges, but there is always room not only a high quality of life – access to beautiful innovativeness. for more work to ensure that it benefits the local countryside and a thriving creative sector – but also This latter benefit – knowledge and skills – has become community as much as its global community. There is an highly skilled jobs. Nearly two-thirds of employment in more important in recent years as the structure of This shift matters to cities like Bristol because the story obvious role for the University in raising aspirations and Bristol is in the knowledge-intensive sectors of financial the economy has changed. Over the past 30 years of the knowledge economy has been a story of cities. the quality of secondary education: its work with the and professional services, high-tech manufacturing, we have moved away from an economy dominated Cities contribute more than their share of population Bristol Council to help teachers improve their classroom

224 100 100 225 skills and its sponsorship of the Merchants’ Academy in Withywood, south Bristol, are both very encouraging developments, but the scale of the state-school problem is such that more work is needed. There is also scope for the University to work more closely with local employers, further education colleges and young people to address skills deficits amongst the existing workforce. Another possibility could be setting up an alternative to Newcastle’s ‘Centre for Life Sciences’, working with the city to create a joint university/city project building on an area of research excellence. The possibilities are endless; the role of the University and the city is to define the desirable and the probable – and then to implement it.

In a city like Bristol, the economy has proved time and again that there is no room for complacency. Thriving industries have declined; boom times have been and gone; inequalities have persisted throughout. If Bristol is to be as resilient and economically successful in 2109 as it is in 2009, then it must strive constantly to grow its intellectual assets and to close the gap between Christopher George Wakling was born in 1970. He studied English the knowledge-haves and the knowledge-have-nots. at Oxford and has worked as a farm hand, teacher and lawyer. He And at the heart of its strategy to grow its intellectual wrote his debut novel, On Cape Three Points, while he took time out assets and increase equality have to sit the universities, in Australia. Beneath the Diamond Sky and The Undertow followed on hospitals and schools: the institutions producing the next his return to London. His most recent novel (as Christopher George) generations of ideas and innovation. For the University of Bristol the challenge is to look to this future to is Towards the Sun, which was published in 2008. He is working on a ensure that, when its 200th anniversary comes around fifth novel, set in Bristol in the early 1800s. The following is an extract. in 2109, its story is one of both global research and Christopher is Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow in the Faculty of local impact and that its place is at the heart of a city Arts at the University of Bristol. brimming with intellectual assets and ideas. Excerpt from a novel in progress To be published by Faber & Faber

Christopher Wakling

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