Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

Cultural influences at that time
Sydney Smith was my Director of Studies and supervisor in Zoology. He was a
remarkable man and had a very strong influence on my development as an
undergraduate and later in life. By research specialization he was an experimental
embryologist, but had an encyclopedic knowledge of Zoology, the fine arts in
general and Chinese porcelain in particular. He was also very knowledgeable about
literature, early biological illustration, Darwin's letters, and was a bon viveur and
wine steward of the College. Sydney was also a talented pianist, to concert standard,
and was proud of having been allowed by Pablo Casals on occasion to carry his cello.
At his social evenings we were privileged to listen to his piano playing, and
encouraged to listen to his eclectic collection of records, or handle his objets d’artes;
we also appreciated his skills as a chef. I learnt a great deal from him, other than
Zoology. His supervisions in Zoology, which I took with Norman Holme, were
absorbing. It was not a question of filling in detail on the lectures and discussing our
feeble attempts at essays he had set us on zoological topics, but in discussion we
covered a very diverse range of other subjects and concepts, in both arts and
sciences.
Sydney looked after his students very well; he insisted we relax properly before
exams and on a number of such occasions he took several of us to camp at
Hemingford on the River Ouse over the pre-exam weekend, where we swam and
punted and unwound from the tension. He also took some of us to Whipsnade, by
train to Hitchin and then a cycle ride to the Downs. It was there that I first started to
appreciate larger animals. He had a superb and comprehensive photographic outfit
of Leica equipment, and he developed our photographic skills, a process begun at
school by Cuthbert Woods at Windermere. Showing a remarkable degree of trust he
even lent me as a young student his expensive equipment, including long range
telephoto lenses to take out into the field for experiments in photography, which laid
the foundation for whatever skills I later developed in this field.
Sydney introduced me to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, which has
very special and diverse collections. We visited it together from time to time, a new
experience for me, and we discussed the paintings in detail. It was my first close
encounter with art appreciation and with the impressionists (Degas, Matisse and
Renoir were my particular favourites), with the English water colour school (Blake,
Cotman and De Wint made a particular impression) - and with Constable's oils, of
which the Fitzwilliam had a representative collection. I recall an occasion when
Sydney pointed out the technical skill of Constable, where he had loaded his palette
knife with more than one colour, and applied it horizontally so that the layers fitted
with a vertical church spire; it seemed impossible brilliance. There were many other
favourite works including a D Y Cameron landscape of Spain, which particularly
caught my fancy. (Many years later I looked for it in the Collection, but couldn't find
it, until I saw it in 1988 on the wall of David Williams’ (Vice-Chancellor's) office; it
was like meeting an old friend). I also visited the London galleries frequently,
including the Wallace Collection and built up a collection of prints and postcards.
This exposure to the visual Arts was all quite new to me and truly an eye-opener.
Among others who had a deep influence on me was Laurence Picken, a lecturer
in Zoology. His formal academic subject was fine structure of the cell, which he
studied by light microscope. But he had also taught himself Chinese from a dual
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