Not a good time for historians, it seems
Patrick Wormald died on 29 September (Guardian obituary here); Conrad Russell died last Thursday (Guardian obit here) and Harold Perkin died on Saturday.
I remember hearing Conrad Russell give the Ford lectures when I was an undergraduate, on the origins of the Civil War; one of the few series of lectures I ever attended to the end, and without falling asleep. Patrick Wormald's best known for The Making Of English Law, but I will always remember that (with James Campbell and Eric John) he wrote the wonderful Penguin The Anglo-Saxons, which is that rare thing, an exciting, revisionist, page-turning history book with lots of pictures. I used to read it in the library as a student, am sure I would never have developed any enthusiasm for English I without it, and a few years ago treated myself to a copy of the revised edition, purely for pleasure since it's way off my period. And Harold Perkin wrote The Origins of Modern English Society, among other things, and founded the Social History Society. I met him briefly, a couple of times (once at the Society's conference last January), and like lots of other people was impressed by his warmth and friendliness and enthusiasm for the subject.
I remember hearing Conrad Russell give the Ford lectures when I was an undergraduate, on the origins of the Civil War; one of the few series of lectures I ever attended to the end, and without falling asleep. Patrick Wormald's best known for The Making Of English Law, but I will always remember that (with James Campbell and Eric John) he wrote the wonderful Penguin The Anglo-Saxons, which is that rare thing, an exciting, revisionist, page-turning history book with lots of pictures. I used to read it in the library as a student, am sure I would never have developed any enthusiasm for English I without it, and a few years ago treated myself to a copy of the revised edition, purely for pleasure since it's way off my period. And Harold Perkin wrote The Origins of Modern English Society, among other things, and founded the Social History Society. I met him briefly, a couple of times (once at the Society's conference last January), and like lots of other people was impressed by his warmth and friendliness and enthusiasm for the subject.