|
-
Lived in Great Harwood and Ashton-under Lyne until 1938 (my father was a policeman and was moved about quite a bit), then settled in Farnworth.
- FGS from 1939 to 1946.
- Got into Oxford to do modern languages, but went to Manchester instead. BA 1950, MA 1951.
- National Service 1951 to 1953 (Intelligence Corps, Vienna). In no doubt that an academic career was the only thing for me, got a British Council scholarship to Münster for two years, then took on the job of English 'Lektor' at the University of Bonn, where I got stuck for eleven years.
- During these eleven years I married twice: once to a Yugoslav (now Croat), who still lives in Bonn and with whom I have a very happy friendly relationship, once to a German, to whom I am still married. We have three children: two boys (1966 and 1968) and a girl (1973).
- I left Bonn with a Dr. Phil. in 1967 to take up a post as lecturer in German (mediæval literature and history of language) at the University of Bristol, rising through the ranks to end up as a professor by the time I retired in 1994. Though retired, I still have access to all the university's facilities and go in daily to finish off a large-scale editorial project.
- For many years I have presided over the Bristol Anglo-German Society, and my work in furthering good relations between our two countries was recognized last year (2001), when the president of the Federal Republic of Germany awarded me the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Cross of the Order of Merit of the FRG).
|
