I came to York in 1966 as a ‘mature’ non-traditional entrant to study Philosophy and Politics. I had a room in Derwent, just one of only two colleges then. I did not enjoy living in college and moved out in February 1967 to a flat, first in St Paul’s Square and then The Mount. That move was a defining moment in my time at York because I found most of my life in the city rather than on campus. In subsequent years I was moved to a new college each year in the expanding University but these moves meant little to me as the college attachment was only a place to collect any post that was sent to me.

My interest in philosophy had been awakened by some knowledge of Continental philosophy but the Department at York was small and the curriculum typical of Philosophy Departments in England at that time. With hindsight I can say that the choice of papers I took was an early indication of what would become my own pre-occupation with Intellectual History. I graduated in 1969 ten years after I had taken my GCE ‘O’ levels when I managed a pass in just one subject - Geography - and over the following two years at school I managed to amass a further two!

In my final years at York my mind turned to how I might stay in the field of Philosophy and through a series of misjudgements I happily arrived in 1970 at a newly formed Polytechnic, later to become a University in 1992. Humanities in such institutions was always marginal. The post I had applied for specified the History of Ideas. In subsequent years in addition to completing an M.Phil at Leeds, through good luck I managed to develop and clarify my own interests and achieved a great deal of satisfaction teaching on a degree in intellectual history.

Central to this discipline is the question of how we are to read texts from the past. In the 20th century the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer was pre-eminent in debates on this issue.  I was later appointed Head of the School of Humanities and this satisfying career was made possible for someone with just three ‘O’ levels because the University of York, and more particularly the Philosophy Department gave me the opportunity.

Although my time at York was not the most intellectually exciting, the seeds were sown there for later developments.  My debt to the department is huge, and in particular to John Benson who advised me about my original application, John Heawood who interviewed me and Juliet Stowers with whom I had many tutorials.

And my move away from campus early in 1967 was not the start of a more exciting time in the city.  Along with many other places, York in the late 60s was not particularly vibrant. And it was perhaps fitting that the pub I frequented whilst living on the Mount, The Bay Horse in Blossom Street, was run down, attracting few but the most devoted customers. The old pair running the pub would wash used glasses in a bucket of water.

Looking back now the stand out memories of those years are going to Leeds in the early months of 1969, for Glyndebourne Touring Opera and then, after Finals, the Festival. I volunteered to look after an exhibition in a church on Micklegate and went to wonderful concerts - Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Janet Baker, Paul Tortellier and Alfred Brendel.  The Nederlands Dans Theater performed at the Theatre Royal and it was also the Berlioz centenary but above all, for the very first time I heard Mahler – John Barbirolli conducting the Resurrection symphony with the Halle in the Minster. Just to look at the programme for the 1969 Festival gives you a good idea of the huge contrast between such prestigious events  and what else York, at that time, had to offer in terms of hotels, restaurants, and pubs serving sandwiches. Not to be outdone even the Charles XII Inn in Heslington offered specialities – ‘Hot Cornish pasties and toasted sandwiches’.