Distinct differences

Although the British Academy celebrated its centenary last month (Features, THES , June 28), its founding charter was granted on August 8, 1902. Of the academy's more than 750 fellows 100 years on, only two - Barry Buzan of the University of Westminster and Roderick Floud of London Guildhall University - are employed by new universities.

Fellows from All Souls College, Oxford, are more numerous than fellows who are women or fellows who are employed in all of Yorkshire's nine universities put together.

Ten years ago, one in 90 fellows held an Order of Merit or a Companionship of Honour. The figure is now one out of 250 fellows. Evidently there's a distinction between civil "distinction" and "academic distinction".

A. D. Harvey
The Salisbury Review