University head dies

Ben Pimlott, warden of Goldsmiths College, University of London, died last Saturday, aged 58. He had been suffering from leukaemia.

Historian, biographer, broadcaster and commentator, Professor Pimlott was previously professor of contemporary history at Birkbeck College, University of London, before joining Goldsmiths for a controversial tenure as its warden in 1998. Among his most influential work were his biographies of the Queen, in 1996, and of former Labour leader Harold Wilson, in 1992.