• 1971 - Begins PhD in History, Clare Hall
• 1974 - Research Fellow Newnham College
• 1979 - University Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer, Reader, Professor (personal Chair)
• 1990 - LittD
• 1999 - Professor of Medieval History, University of Cambridge and Vice-Master, Sidney Sussex College.

Meet the scholars interview, as featured in Unbound 8 (summer 2015)

What is it about the Loire that inspires you?

It is a river in the heart of France that flows though a quite remarkable array of historical sites, from the Roman period to the present day.

Talk us through what it is like on these tours

It is basically like a prolonged lunch or dinner party while cruising through mostly beautiful landscape with a completely different way of life on a river or canal unfolding before us. Dinner is the important event each evening and usually I give a short talk over drinks.

Everyone involved is prepared to be sociable, to swap knowledge but in a very relaxed and amiable manner, so that people travelling on their own never feel as if they are on their own but simply part of this undemandingly friendly and civilised group.

The fact that everyone has time in Cambridge or Oxford in common acts as a very effective common element, and the wonderfully diverse experience and range of occupations among the alumni who come, however small the group, is remarkable. Everyone is interesting and good company.

Do you have a funniest trip memory?

Not so much funny as very pleasurable, on one trip to Provence visiting Orange. Our minibus driver suddenly became quite vivacious and loquacious as we stopped to look at the Roman triumphal arch in Orange and he told us all about it with enormous pride and pleasure.

What is the best thing for you about going on these trips?

Seeing a number of very interesting and often beautiful places in excellent company. The alumni on the trip quickly become friends and it is a very pleasant way to spend a week. Being on a barge and seeing the landscape is very special and the whole group together with the crew somehow creates its own special chemistry. I enjoy meeting the alumni and introducing them to the sites and their historical and cultural context.

What do you think a trip scholar adds to a trip?

Information and the enhancement of knowledge about the places we visit so that it is not just a superficial journey through standard ‘places of interest’ but a proper but not too intense study tour. We do after all enjoy the cruising, the excellent food and wine and the lively conversations about all manner of other things as well.

What do you think the alumni on the trip get out of the trip scholar’s involvement?

I hope the alumni have an enjoyable and interesting trip with lovely weather, food, drink and company but have learnt something more about a region that they have not known before, seen places they might never otherwise have visited, had a few pleasant surprises and left with a fuller appreciation of its history (even if only select bits of it).

What is your dream trip scholar destination (ie with you being the trip scholar)?

I should love to go down the north-east coast of the Adriatic: Trieste, Aquileia, Cividale, Venice and then on to Ravenna.