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In Memory of a Departed Shirt

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I no longer possess the shirt appearing in these photographs. It had finally arrived at a state of disintegration that would put to shame any self-respecting dishcloth, and, in consequence, it got ignominiously chucked out with the general rubbish recently. One day, between 2007 and 2010, I found, in the basement of a Henry Street department store, two floral-patterned shirts that immediately caught my eye. One was the shirt about which this account is concerned. The other shirt has a floral design with roses on a blue background. There was no question but that I had to acquire both shirts. I justified the purchase to myself on the grounds that, although I could see no prospect of wearing either shirt in the context of most of the activities that formed the major part of my social life, I could nevertheless see the possibility of wearing one or other of those shirts at certain private gatherings and social events with particular friends. In the event, the blue floral-patter...
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Building a Life in Dublin: the Early Years

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I arrived in Dublin in 1986 to take up a position as Lecturer in Pure Mathematics at Trinity College. A relatively stable lifestyle established itself over the first two decades of living in Dublin. Something of a personal crisis developed towards the end of those two decades which came to a head in the summer of 2006. But that is another story. On arrival in Trinity, two lecture courses were assigned to me; a second year lecture course on analysis in several real variables and a degree-level lecture course on algebraic topology. (By some weird coincidence, the two lecture courses I am currently teaching, during the semester in which I am writing this, are a second year module on analysis in several real variables and a degree-level module on algebraic topology.) So I settled down to prepare my lecture notes (writing them out in pencil on writing paper, so that I could copy the notes onto the blackboard to enable the students attending the lectures to make a verbatim copy). Als...
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Trinity's Surly Front

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I was appointed to a lectureship in pure mathematics at Trinity College Dublin in 1986, and took up the post in October 1986. The visual appearance of the college was very different then. Some impression of the appearance of "Trinity's surly front" can perhaps be gleaned from the three following poor-quality scans of slide photographs taken sometime within the first year following my arrival in Dublin. For the first five years after my arrival in Trinity the School of Mathematics occupied House 39 in New Square, but was subsequently moved to its current location in the houses alongside Westland Row, notwithstanding the very forceful objections of many of the academic staff of the School. An appeal was made to the Visitor, and heard by the Visitor and Chancellor of the University. The result of the appeal did not forestall the move of the School of Westland Row, but, in consequence of the appeal, a computer room was made available to students of mathematics ...
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Anderida

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The village where I grew up was one of two located on either side of the Roman fort of Anderida (or Anderitum). Archaeologists have dated the construction of this fort to around 290 C.E., during the reign of Carausias, who had declared himself Emperor of Britain and Northern Gaul. The land on which the fort was built was originally a peninsula surrounded by sea, or at least by a lagoon separated from the open sea by a shingle bank, and the outer curtain walls were roughly elliptical in shape. Substantial parts of the Roman walls still stand. Below is a photograph (taken by me in 2007) showing the wall close to the western entrance to the fort. The Roman wall continues round the northern side of the enclosure, towering above the road joining our village, the village of Westham, to the village of Pevensey, located on the eastern side of the Roman fort. But to walk from one village to the other, one did not need to walk along the road: taking a direct route eastwards alo...
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An Early Introduction to the Joy of Orchestras

During my schooldays in East Sussex, schools in the county, schools outside the county boroughs, other than private fee-paying schools, were run by, or at least financed by and overseen by, the Education Committee of East Sussex County Council. Instrumental music tuition was provided by peripatetic music teachers employed by the East Sussex Music School (the forerunner of what is now called the East Sussex Music Service). In primary school, when I was seven years old, forms were given out to be filled in and returned by the parents of any children wishing to avail of piano and violin lessons. So I started learning the piano aged seven. It was agreed that if I made sufficient progress I could start learning the violin as well: accordingly I started learning the violin at the age of eight. I had the same teacher for both instruments from the time I started learning in primary school to the time that I matriculated at Cambridge University. She herself had studied piano with Harold C...
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Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach - in 1969

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The following two (rather overexposed) photographs, taken by me in 1969, show the Mathematisches Forschungsinsitut Oberwolfach (Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics), located in the Black Forest, in south-western Germany. Well, I wasn't such a precocious mathematician as to be invited to discuss my research at the Institute at the age of ten! But my father attended a conference there. Consequently we made a family holiday, travelling across France to visit friends in Geneva, then headed though the Swiss Alps before heading for the Institute. I have not visited the place since these photos were taken. I recall that we slept as a family in a large bedroom, with brass bedsteads and turret windows, in the old Schloss. (Or maybe it might have been merely a hunting lodge.) I understand that the Schloss where we stayed was shortly afterwards demolished. My father was of course tied up attending the conference: my mother, elder brother and myself spent our time walkin...
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Meall Corranaich

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I was first given a camera when I was about eight years old: an old camera that had probably been used by my elder brother until he was provided with a better one. Over the years I rarely took photos of other people: the family thought this rather odd on my part. But it seems that people figure more prominently in my earliest photos. The photos below are scans of slide photos taken in 1969 (according to the processing date I took off the slides when scanning them). Only the first of them would have been taken by me: it shows my elder brother walking into a snow patch on a Scottish mountainside. The other two photos were clearly taken by my brother with the camera that had been passed on to me, given that both of them show me, at the age of nine, with my father. Even after all these years, I can remember where these photographs were taken. The family were on holiday in Scotland. This holiday took place in the Whitsun half term holiday, as we invariably went on holiday togeth...
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