Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

that all in all this would give me a satisfying part-time retirement job that was
sufficiently undemanding to allow plenty of time to pursue other interests. I would
not have been interested in an undergraduate college, even if I had been approached.
In the event, after my retirement from BAS at the end of April l987, it became an allconsuming
activity, and for several years left little room for other interests! Later it
became more enjoyable and more relaxing.
Initially, however, it was not very demanding for me, as I had formal leave of
absence. In the first year of my Mastership I attended social occasions and meetings
of a few key committees. In the first year power struggles continued within the
Fellowship which were a burden for the Vice-Master, Geoffrey Cook, but in the
second year I became more involved. These two years coincided with the very
serious problems over the very survival of BAS, as recounted in an earlier chapter,
which absorbed much of my energies.
I had chaired the Committee which interviewed candidates for the Bursar's post and
then attended my first meeting of the Association on 4 September l985, when a
decision was taken to appoint John Holifield as the new Bursar. His appointment
began on 1 October l985.
As I have explained, the Vice-Master, Geoffrey Cook, was deputizing for me in the
early part of my Mastership. He had a difficult time. There were three main
problem areas. First, there had been the bitter struggle initiated by a minority within
the Fellowship, comprising Bruce Elsmore, (Senior Tutor), Michael Winter (the
Dean), David Brading, Julius Lipner (Tutors), and Mary Thatcher, who wished to see
the practice of electing a Roman Catholic Master continue, despite the fact that I had
been elected democratically by at least a two-thirds majority and had the public
blessing of the retiring Master. This continued and grew when I took over.
Secondly, again before I had formally taken up my duties, the problem of the
Deanship ensued. Some of the Fellows felt that the Dean was not performing his
duties satisfactorily and was devoting too much time to his activities as a "peace
protester" with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and other
organisations. He had been in prison for a short time for these activities and it was
felt that his activities brought discredit on the College. For these reasons it was
proposed not to re-appoint him when he came up for renewal of his post; this
proposal was carried first in the Nominations Committee and then in the
Association. Subsequently some Fellows had second thoughts and it was raised
again in the Nominations Committee by Lipner and Brading ,and the Dean,
supported by Mr Glazebrook threatened the College with legal action. (Glazebrook
was the Director of Studies in Law at another College, and had been a member of the
former Association, superseded in l983; he had also drafted the College's
Constitution). Advice contrary to his, obtained from Queen's Counsel, was that the
College's statutes were so imprecisely worded that there is considerable ambiguity
that could only be tested in the courts; (so much for Glazebrook's capability in legal
matters.) The ambiguity was over the majority required for re-election, which
became the proximate issue. Legal opinion was divided, but it was eventually
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