Honorary Fellow, Hertford College, Oxford

I am honoured and delighted to have been elected an Honorary Fellow to my alma mater, Hertford College, Oxford.  
In 1965, Hertford recognised the social inequality of the student demographic and actively sought to redress the balance by welcoming highly able students from the comprehensive sector.  In 1974, Hertford was one of the first all-male colleges to welcome women as students, and in 1978, Professor Julia Briggs became the college’s first female Fellow.  In 1982, she was one of the professors who awarded me my entrance scholarship to read English, for which I shall always be grateful.  

My own picture on the college website is from 2014, taken to promote my debut novel The Bees and very out of date.  As this second photo shows, I really must get new ones but this is from a happy day in November 2024, taken by my daughter and saying goodbye to outgoing and inspirational most recent Principal of the college Tom Fletcher, about to go on his his current job as UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs.  

The high white painted window overlooking us, was my college room when I was there…