123 inspire – and sometimes strike with awe – the most able students, was secondto-none.Very few teachers could count as friends former students who had gone on to be august movers-and-shakers in politics, the law, economics and education to name but a few. At Oxford, he had studied under the most rigorous of taskmasters, James Campbell, and, as a result, never succumbed to complacency. His rare intellect and elan could put even the brightest in their place and through him they learnt not only to think but also the important quality of humility. Such was his standing as an intellectual, he could attract a stellar cast to SABS meetings, including world-leading experts in their fields and ministers of the Crown. The first time I saw Mike he was chatting animatedly outside Otway to Alan Clark, Tory MP, feted diarist and friend of Margaret Thatcher. Imagine what a first impression this made! Mike’s reputation as an intellectual was also cemented by his acclaimed writing, of which he was justifiably proud. Some of the most renowned publishing houses sought him out. His approach was characterised by his integrity, his overriding and most noble trait. He never told falsehoods, and in his books and teaching would never allow a meretricious (a word I learnt from Mike) phrase or hyperbole or sophistry obscure his quest for the truth. The themes of his books were often complex – for example Britain’s jagged path to democracy or late-Victorian politics - yet his writing was lucid and measured and made complicated ideas clear. Mike believed strongly in balance. He tried to show at least two sides to every story and then come to a reasoned judgment. This often stood in contrast to the modern social-media-fuelled tendency to superficiality and sensationalism. In a celebrated Heads of Department Meeting, he refused to artificially embellish UCAS references – much to the consternation of the Head of Sixth of the time. In many other ways, too, Mike was a trailblazer, including (and he would laugh at this!) technology. He was the first in the History Department to use computers (of the BBC variety) to increase the number of media which students learned to manage. He understood early the risks humankind posed to the environment and was the first at a Tory Party Conference to speak on this;
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