06 Open University

1978: The Open University and Study Leave

After my 1972 experience of writing a research paper and being told by the Head of School not to do this again I decided to look for something else and became captivated by the Open University, because I was impressed by the quality of their teaching materials. I decided that I wanted to visit it. I wrote to Oliver Penrose out of the blue and he accepted me. I got approval for a year’s study leave. Lois and I and the new-born Greg were to spend most of 1978 there. We managed to rent a house at Leighton Buzzard. I was very enthusiastic about the whole year ahead of me.

We both very much looked forward to this. I remember that in the lead-up we had a very cold introductory January day in Canberra – just 12 degrees max.

On 30 January we were on our way. We had a Qantas flight via the old Singapore airport, Bahrain, Vienna and London in the morning of 31 January. It was all pretty smooth and we arrived an hour early. We took the underground into London and a cab to Berner’s hotel, a stately place where my parents had been. The cabbie, who had seemed to negotiate the short distance via Southampton, told us he could pick us up the next day and take us to Leighton Buzzard for 25 pounds. He gave us his phone number but we said we’d think about it.

While Lois rested after the trip I went out and bought a Harris Tweed overcoat at a nearby Marks and Spencer for 40 pounds (these were the halcyon days of 67p to the Aus dollar).

Lois awoke and we had a nice meal in the dining room. The next morning we enquired at Euston Station and discovered we could get to Leighton Buzzard easily and much cheaper than by taxi. So we were on our way, relying just on the taxi at Leighton Buzzard to take us to our new home, a kilometre from the Leighton Buzzard Railway Station at 23 Lincolme Slade.

Above is a street scene soon after arrival.

I recount some of our year’s experiences under headings.

Lifestyle

Our house was a comfortable three bedroom bungalow near the Euston railway line, with four tracks the busiest in Britain. An inter-city train seemed to roll past about every minute, but the double glazing had another role which was most effective, i.e. kept the noise tolerable.

During the year Greg learned to walk.

And the trains were interesting for him. We shared a party wall with a family with two young daughters who seemed to have whooping cough for much of the year. There was a reasonable local supermarket a short walk away and this introduced me to Hungarian Bull’s Blood, which seemed the best value wine in Britain during the year.

We could walk behind the house over the hill and rail tunnel to a beautiful pub on the Grand Union Canal.

There was an internal courtyard. I bought a small barbecue which I often used during the year. Greg is in the courtyard here.

Transport

The train travel to Euston was impressive. Just 46 minutes each way for a special 2 pound return (cheaper than the one-way fare). You could go to London for a show and return the same night.

To get to the OU was more tricky. The train to Bletchley was fine, but the bus network through Milton Keynes was about as bad as that in Canberra.

We had to buy a car, and the red Fiat ST we bought, STW 364K was our “wheels” for the year. It did give us some problems, notably once when the disk brakes went, in the middle of the year with flooding problems, and on another at the end of the year when I sold it, only to see water pouring out of the head gasket in the buyer’s driveway. It was, however, beautiful to drive.

Oliver and the OU

I got on very well with Oliver, for whom I had much professional respect, not only for his dedication for teaching but also his stature in the world of Statistical Mechanics. He is the brother of Sir Roger Penrose and British Chess Champion Jonathon Penrose, step-son of MHA Newman (author of Topology of Plane Sets) and his father was a Professor of Genetics. To add to this the musical ability of his family it was a highly intellectual environment.

Oliver and I jointly wrote the first text on differential equations for the new second year applied maths course MST204 and later I wrote the Operations Research text with Mick Bromilow, who was to become a lasting friend.

The OU was a beautiful place, an academic mecca with no students on campus (maybe a bit like Yes Minister had a perfectly operational hospital with no patients). Inspired by the former Labour Leader Aneurin Bevan, and with the Library named after Bevan’s wife Jenny, the OU was a totally new, highly resourced institution with unlimited opportunity for innovation. One could hold a position without working. I shared an office with NSWIT Computing Lecturer Joan Hammond, and a Technology academic, who only visited the office once during the whole year, and this was to place a phone call to his bank manager in London after noticing a fee on his statement.

There were some interesting people on the OU staff. I liked Mike Crampin, who was later to become Dean and invited us to lunch at his home at Apsley Guise. There were many who were well known and generally a good collegial approach. One thing I learnt in this environment where people criticised each other’s work is that this need not be personal, but just a process which leads to a better output. Robin Wilson, son of Harold Wilson, was probably the one I liked and respected most.

The Dean at the time was Mike Pengilley, a Computer Science professor. He once asked me to his room, said that they had good experience with about 8 Australians and just one exception, and would like to start an exchange program. There is a follow up to this at Anecdote 2 at the foot of this chapter.

The remaining one I got to know was Anton Buhagiar, a young Maltese student of Oliver. A nice, quiet fellow, we often had amusing chats about Dom Mintoff and Colonel Gaddafi.

Alexandra Palace

As well as the books I wrote I also made my mark with an audio tape I recorded in Alexandra Palace under the production of John Jaworski. Alexandra Palace had been developed as a northern London grand entertainment centre to complement Crystal Palace in South London. In the 1930s they were taken over by the BBC where it produced the world's first high television transmissions. I was told these were the historic BBC studios where King George VI made his wartime addresses. Before I was there Led Zepellin had performed there and in the 2000s the Palace became home of world darts and snooker championships. I remember after rehearsals during the morning, and lunch in the staff canteen John took me into a mysterious room, dark and full of smoke. It turned out to be the staff bar. A pint was placed in front of me and John told me I had to drink it. I thought this was crazy but he said that it produced good results, the speaker was more relaxed. I thought I had better go along with it in that case and got through the pint while they waited. When I put the empty down there was another one. I said "What's this?". He said actually it's two pints. This was tradition, I was told later by Roger Duke, an Honours student with me in Adelaide but by then at the Faculty.

Lois and the tea club

While I was working Lois joined the morning coffee and afternoon tea circuit of Lincolme Slade. She particularly got to know the lady over the road. I had met her father, a British war veteran who had become a full Colonel and who told me he had been to every country in Europe except Albania.

It was he at one of the morning teas or coffees who is responsible for anecdote 1 below.

Squash

I started the year finding some OU opponents. Initially it was John Baker, who was very diligently in charge of a developing mathematics education section.

He quickly passed me on to the two best on-campus players, Jim Morrison, a dogged player who some times beat me and Aldwyn Cooper, a flashy player who was not so consistent. Later they put me in touch with John Richmond, a more formidable player who lived in London but was head of the Maths Faculty BBC team. Normally, John was based in London at Alexandra Palace, but he occasionally visited Walton Hall. I found him a very fine player, better than those on campus and in the competition matches I played. We each beat each other once. I joined the OU team and there were also others in the team such as Fred Holbrook and Mike “Fangio” Newton. I played for the Open University in Buckinghamshire Div 3 and lost one match to Peter Hurst, of Bletchley Leisurecentre, and lost it pretty badly. Later I got fitter and only twice more was even taken to four.

In April I got an entry into the British Open, winning a first round qualifier by default, and losing the second, which would have got me into the 64 draw, to Terry Mabbit, a pro from Bedford, in three tight sets. It was fantastic to be at Wembley and as a contestant I was allowed into the players’ gallery, with Noddy Grayson to see the epic final between Geoff Hunt and Qamar Zaman. The first game took a full 50 minutes, Geoff losing 9-7. In the second game Zaman hit an early error. Hunt decided it was time to strike and beat him 9-2 9-1 9-1 in 20, 15 and 15 minutes, hitting a bewildering array of winners, including 3 corner nicks at the rear court.

In the middle of the year I joined Knoll’s Squash Club at Leighton Buzzard. This was the most idyllic club, set in a manor house in Leighton Buzzard. Managed by a character called Roy Smith, this was a good club playing in first division in Bedfordshire. I broke into the team, which included Jonathon Yorke-Long, an English ranked player (I think about 5 or 6), Graham Carr, Peter Hurst (again), Roy Lowe, a tough guy who had scored a goal for Arsenal against Liverpool, Stewart Tate and another, David Masters, who I didn’t see much but eventually beat me in the Club Championship just as I was leaving.

This was a very competitive club. I got into the team, eventually playing at no 2 and once at no 1, winning every match and only being taken to four even just twice. Once, against Luton, I beat someone who had won the Spanish Open the weekend before.

One had to know that every practice game was a ladder challenge if you were within three positions. After losing you would find your victor would adjust the ladder very shortly afterward, even before his shower. I once beat Graham Carr and went to number two in the club, playing in the top grade of the Bedfordshire league, behind Jonathon, where I stayed for the rest of my time there. I could not get Jonathon to play me. He was in a strong position. He and his father owned the club, as well as a business importing timber from Africa, a lucrative business with office on site. I think they were very wealthy. The others went to extraordinary levels to challenge me when I would be in a weak position. Graham Carr, a bank officer, challenged me instantly by telephoning me toward the end of a RL test I was watching on a Saturday afternoon, with Australia beating Britain and me having drunk a couple of beers.

I got very fit. I had a diary which proves I played every day for six weeks at one stage. I was never so fit before or after.

Woburn, Whipsnade and other short tours

We had many pleasant local tours, including through the lion parl at Woburn, to the zoos at Whipsnade and London and once I remember taking Greg for a walk through some historic forest near Tring.

Spalding

In May we took a drive through Spalding and back to my grandfather’s town of Long Sutton.

A real highlight was a spectacular tulip display near Spalding. This was of the same quality as Floriade in Canberra these days.

Kew and Visitors

At times we had some Australian visitors. These included Noddy Grayson, Kathy and George Tomlin (later to become CEO of the National Capital Authority), a guy Lois knew called Randall and Mrs Thiedermann. Lois, Mrs Thiedermann and Greg took a trip to Tangier. Taking them to Luton airport was a saga as we got into a traffic jam when the Vauxhall factory closed and the engine flooded.

I gave Lois a rest by taking Mrs T and Greg to Kew one day. This is a beautiful place and we enjoyed it. In some ways it reminds me of King’s Park in Perth. There are even a couple of Eucalypts in Kew.

Cambridge

As a tutor at the OU I had to go to Cambridge a couple of times and give classes for a third year course in differential equations. These classes were in an unfashionable tech college. I got to know some of the country. I also had to give a class at Bedford once for these students. I had to mark work of a few of these students regularly and they were allowed to ring me at home and discuss issues.

Scotland

I managed to get two weeks tutoring at the OU Summer School at Stirling. This was set in a beautiful place, the start of the highlands. It was a most exhilarating teaching experience, with five 90 minute teaching sessions each day from 9am to 9pm and discos afterward. We had to eat with the students at all meals as well as afternoon and morning tea. It was a total teaching experience, with only occasional breaks. After the first week I found it difficult to say goodbye to the students, slept on the day of the changeover and went through it all again.

Lois and I did get some time off. We took one trip to St Andrew, one to Edinburgh, where the car broke down again, and the problem was finally diagnosed as an easily fixed thermostat problem, and a very nice trip north in which we did not quite reach Oban. On one afternoon also some of us had a nice walk up the mountain behind the University (Dumyat, 418m), and from where one could see both Glasgow and Edinburgh.

We drove back to Leighton Buzzard down the A1, seeing the Yorkshire moors. On one occasion I went in to the pub at Scotch Corner to get some advice about the moors. An American walked in asking if there were any “corbs”. The bar man was as bewildered as me and asked for a translation which turned out to be “sandwiches”.

Cricket

I decided I needed to visit Lords. I took off a Saturday to watch a county game for a day: Middlesex v Surrey, a local derby. There were not many people there but it was aesthetic, sunny and I saw the museum, including the Ashes.

I actually had a couple of games of cricket myself. The OU had an inter-faculty comp going at lunch hours. I managed to get into maths’ 6 man team – one wicket-keeper and five overs. I did all right, scoring a few runs each time without getting out, taking a catch on the boundary, and getting a wicket (caught in slips) on both occasions. The team won the first match but lost the second. I also got into the OU team for a one-day game at Little Stratford. But I never saw any action. It rained all day and I got involved in a game of chess which lasted, appropriately, all day for a frustrating draw.

Ireland

Later in the year (about October) I got an opportunity for a cheap rail pass in Ireland. I was told by the British to expect the trains to be slow, and always late as train drivers often stopped for a drink.

Wednesday 04 October 1978 Leighton Buzzard Rugby Holyhead Dublin

I took an intercity to HolyHead. Fairly good weather. A train has been delayed at Rugby, where I was due to change trains, due to a suicide at Birmingham. The Irish Sea is not exceptionally rough, although it was difficult to read. I landed at Dun Leaoghrie and took the train into Dublin, where I stayed at the Maple Hotel (IRP 7.15).

I walked into the city. The main street, O’Connell Street, is a wide boulevard. I had pints of Guiness in Moran’s Hotel. This Guiness is poured in Ireland with a substantial head. I was able to watch Northern Ireland’s Television, showing a match with Watford beating Manchester United.

Thursday 05 October 1978 Dublin Galway

I arranged an early breakfast and caught the 0820 train to Galway, which had always fascinated me, inspired by Bing Crosby’s song. The weather was fine although there was some cloud. The countryside was hidden to some extent by hedges.

Here there are dual language signs, except in advertising. I walked along the shores of the bay to Salthill and could see an island in the bay. Priests and nuns in the streets were quite common. There is a Gaelic TV channel and I spoke with a Gaelic speaker in a bar.

Friday 06 October 1978 Galway Cork

It was a fine day in Galway so I walked down to Salthill again. I caught the 1230 train to Cork, changing at Kildare. Cork was rather crowded and fortunately I made the right guess for which direction to take from the station. I finally found a cheap room at the Mall Tavern. I had some Murphy’s in the bar downstairs, a pizza in town and finally watched the Castlebar song contest on TV. Mary O’Hara was also on. I had a chat with proprietor Michael Heely, mainly about football.

Saturday 07 October 1978 Cork Killarney Rosslare

I had a good breakfast and thought I might return home tonight as the train connections look sparse on a Sunday, which might lead to a boring day. It also could be expensive if I reach Rosslare on the Monday. But I decide to still go to Killarney today.

Killarney is commercial with plenty of American tourists. There are plenty of shops for tourists and I buy Lois a necklace. I look around for a while but then return to the station and catch the 1436 to London after being assured by a BritRail agent that my ticket would be OK for tonight.

My train went to Limerick Junction, where I changed trains for Rosslare Harbour, sitting next to two American girls on the train. I changed to the ferry where I drank with two Irishmen.

Sunday 08 October 1978 Pembroke Paddington Leighton Buzzard

The trains in Ireland had all been punctual, despite the forecasts. But I now reached Pembroke Haven, slept on the train into Paddington and found there that the train had arrived 2 hours late. I finally arrived home about midday.

Impressions

I returned with four impressions.

1. The country was substantially untouched and small population.
2. EU is good for Ireland (better than for the UK).
3. The country is more efficient than Irish jokes suggest.
4. The Irish seem to be patient about Northern Ireland.

Sheffield

I had access to OU Conference funds and noticed that a Canadian mathematical biologist who I admired (Pielou) was speaking at a conference in Sheffield. I took all day, via St Pancras station, It was interesting to hear Pielou speak, see the famous maths dept and the industrial city of south Yorkshire. I also noticed the crooked spire of the church in Chesterfield and went through Leicester and Nottingham.

Stratford upon Avon

One day we took a nice trip to Stratford-upon-Avon. It was very pristine and touristy.

Lands End, Auntie Bea

I had letters from Auntie Nora imploring me to visit Auntie Bea in Bournemouth. We also wanted to visit Lands’ End. One weekend we took off for these destinations.

I was very happy that once during my life I was able to visit my Auntie Bea, widow of my grandfather's older brother Uncle Harry, and mother of Maurice and Michael, the latter who became a close friend - we get on well. She seemed a very nice lady. We looked at the rather granular, but fairly popular beach, still inhabitable in September and went on, past outer Southampton to Lands End.

Finally, after difficulty, we found a place to stay at Sidmouth in a hotel not unlike Fawlty Towers. We went down to the town which was rather quaint and popular.

Next day we went to Land End. We passed by the attractive town of Plymouth, also Penzance and Lands End. The area is attractive for the stone work, the colour of which I was later to see matched in Normandy.

We went back via Taunton, a pleasant place where we stayed the next night. The third day took us through Avebury and Stonehenge. These are very eerie, especially Avebury, which is underrated.

At Oliver’s house

In December we were invited to Oliver’s house for lunch one Sunday. He lived at Berkhemstead, one of the stations on the Euston line. We were able to go there by train. It is clearly a wealthy town. It was amazing that the weather could be so pleasant, so close to Christmas. Little did we know.

Manchester

I went to Manchester twice. Both times Mick was also there, as both were conferences on Numerical Analysis, one on Ordinary differential equations, the second on partials. The first time I went by myself, because I wanted to see both Old Traffords and then go on to Ireland. I did make it to both, which were very important to me, being a cricket fan but also a United fan since the air crash. They are a kilometre or so apart. I bought a couple of United books at their shop.

I could not get a booking on the ferry, so went home, much to Lois’ surprise.

The second time I travelled in Mick’s car up the M1, which was OK. It was now close to Christmas. Near Manchester the weather became very cold. It was not just the freezing fog we had seen in Milton Keynes by 3.30pm. It was certainly not just the cold weather which I had seen in May and quarantined my shorts. This was really cold and a real fog. Mick and I had to walk along the road to the conference with our hands in front of us to stop us from bumping into something. We could tell we were near the roads by a haze of light to our side.

The other thing about this conference was the presence of Germans and other Europeans arrived at this conference, designed to be informative, to point out that the Poms were way behind the times. Actually Manchester University is very strong with a whole Numerical Analysis Department, headed by Joan Walsh and including Ian Gladwell, so it seemed a bit unfair. The Manchester maths building is the most spectacular I have seen. It goes up about 18 floors, each smaller than the previous. The top floor is not much more than a tutorial room.

Snow and Heathrow

During the lead-up to New Year we had started to experience the real winter. The autumn day at Oliver’s had well and truly been a last gasp.

Lois and I were to go home separately, both leaving Heathrow on the same day – New Year’s Eve. I was to take Greg to Adelaide for a couple of weeks. Lois was on a Swissair taking her on to Mali.

We woke up, preparing for our taxi. We were to take the train to Watford and the bus around to Heathrow. We got a shock when we looked out. It had started snowing and it was already one to two metres high. We thought if we waited longer we would never get out. We left our house of 11 months in a hurry and proceeded, absolutely laden with luggage.

It was pretty bleak when we arrived at Watford but the road was open and we got to Heathrow. Heathrow was a closed airport. It was crowded with Indians, Pakistanis, Africans, all sorts of people destined to be here for a very long time. Greg and I were to leave from Terminal 3. Lois occasionally went across to Terminal 2, but the outlook was bleak. Nothing was moving, and it was difficult for us to move also.

Finally, late in the day Lois’ plane, a Swissair to Geneva was announced as one of the few leaving. She said good-bye to us and went to Terminal 2. At about the same time I notice that our Qantas plane was in Manchester. Later in the evening it was allowed down to Heathrow and we were able to board it, again one of the few planes to leave. It was incredibly nice to see a Qantas plane and be allowed on. Greg was put in his bassinet. We took off about 2345. The pilot let us celebrate the New Year. Free champagne was made available to all the passengers.

It was difficult. Greg and I landed at Bahrain and Singapore. Each time I had my hands full with him. It was difficult in Sydney. In Sydney we had to change planes. With my 32 kg of luggage and Greg in pusher it was hopeless. People were very sympathetic and some helped me. It was an easy flight, with an inexperienced crew and few passengers down to Melbourne. Again the same problem, having to carry an impossible load through customs, and around to the domestic terminal, where we took a domestic flight to Adelaide. My parents were at Adelaide airport to meet me.

1980: Postscript

After returning from the OU Oliver Penrose wrote to offer me a contract for writing a further book on Linear Programming. I felt that I could not do this entirely in isolation. I decided that I should use the contract consideration to return to Britain for three weeks to finish the job off properly. I decided, on the way to spend five days in a corner of Europe to which I hadn’t been, and to look at Hong Kong on the way home.

Later this was complicated by Stephanie’s birth. We did not think she was due until January, but she was determined after two false alarms, to be actually born in the 1970s and she had safely arrived before Christmas.

COLONIAL ATTITUDES

I was used to the fact that Australian sports teams play particularly hard against England. The reason is not anti-English but a desire to prove that Australia can fend for itself and is independent of the former colonial master. But I was surprised to find a couple of incidents in which there were some substantial counter-views from the coloniser to the colony, which I think are no longer valid in 2013. These incidents are described in the following two anecdotes.

Anecdote 1

We lived in a street in Leighton Buzzard which had a lot of young families. Typically the father was in the work force and commuted to London for the day to work and Lois (with young Greg) got to know most of the women in the street, who would have regular morning coffees and afternoon teas (as you do there) together.

The woman across the road had a father who I met and he told me he had been a full Colonel in the British Army in World War II. He seemed well versed and traveled and told me he had been to every country in Europe except Albania, which was at the time the most closed state. Apparently he often attended the morning coffees or afternoon teas with the ladies.

One day, Lois, said, he was lamenting the loss of the British Empire. Apparently he noted that "we have lost India, we have lost Africa, we have also lost the West Indies. Even countries like Australia are now apparently virtually ruling themselves".

Anecdote 2

One day I was contacted by the Dean of the Faculty. He told me that they had now had 9 Australian visitors, including me, and with one exception they had been extremely grateful for their contributions. He said he wanted to explore the possibility of a formal arrangement between my Faculty and his. I undertook to discuss this with my Dean. In those days such discussions took place via telexes.

Correspondence between my Dean and theirs developed positively, and I discovered a senior academic I had got to know well had heard about it. He took a very keen interest in it and I asked why. He said he was lining up one of his staff members for the exchange. I asked why, and who. I said it was well-known he didn't like this staff member at all. He looked me in the eye and said two words "BOTANY BAY!".

I am not sure this person would still hold this opinion as he later came to Australia for a conference and liked it so much he eventually migrated.