Hull of a surprise?

In your article on the British Academy (Features, THES , June 28), Sir Keith Thomas follows Blackadder in citing Hull as the obvious antithesis to Oxbridge in matters of intellectual distinction. He considers that anyone from Hull elected to the British Academy would "as likely as not" promptly move to Oxford or Cambridge. In fact, two distinguished Hull professors have recently been made fellows of the British Academy, and neither, to my knowledge, has any intention of leaving Hull. This may seem mysterious to Sir Keith but to those with a better knowledge of the university, it will not come as a great surprise.

Rowland Wymer
Department of English
University of Hull