Hall: scholar and gentleman

When I was a tutor at Open University psychology summer schools in the late 1980s and early 1990s, my weeks on the University of Sussex campus often coincided with those of Stuart Hall, who taught on the social sciences foundation course.

I once submitted an account of my week at Sussex for the Don’s Diary column of the Times Higher Education Supplement (10 August 1990), as your publication was then known. It included a report on the Monday-night disco in The Crypt: “The lights go up dead on midnight and all of a sudden we all turn back into mice, even Stuart Hall who I spot across the crowded floor; good to see he’s still researching popular culture.”

On seeing my musings in print, I worried that I’d overstepped the mark and been rather cheeky towards a senior and highly regarded OU colleague. My fears were unfounded: Stuart dropped me a note to say that he was honoured to have made an appearance in my diary.

Peter Barnes
Milton Keynes