The Morrill Majority

The Professor of British and Irish History at the University of Cambridge turned up sporting a splendid ‘Guinness’-emblazoned tie. It was a hot, sticky summer’s evening and John Morrill had spent much of the day working on the Ford Lectures he is to deliver in Oxford next year. But, in the best traditions of the God-fearing Puritans he and I were shortly to discuss, we decided to work first before allowing ourselves the pleasures of a nearby hostelry.