King's College London (KQC) newsletter

o CAVALRY CO G Kt

The launch, held in the Committee Room,wa introduced by Professor LawrenceFreedman Head of the Department of WarStudies. Responding, Profe or Gambaemphasised the important nature of herwork, which thi year has extra significancea it marks the fifth anniver ary of thecommencement of the conflict.

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On pril 29 the College ho ted the laun hof Irginia Gamba' book, The falklandslMah'inas War - A fodel for, orth-SouthCrisis Prel·ention. irginia Gamba i Direc-tor of the Strategic StudIes In titute inBueno Aire and currently a VI it1l1g31:.ademic 111 the Department of War Studie

hil t this i her fifth book on the subJed,it i the fir t to be written in nglish.

In the second of a erie of three campus briefing, the Principal and the Finance Officerpelt out to Strand taff the full eriousne of the College' financial ituation. The

dual purpo e of the meeting, held on 20 May in the ew Theatre, was to make a widea ection of taff a po ible aware of the full fact and also to reinforce a ense of parti­cipation, both collective and individual, in the College' plan for financial tability.

David Ball, the ollege Finance Officer, gave taft an overview of our iluation whichencompas ed hi torical background, a review of resource allocation and indications forthe future. The three pre-merger Colleges all suffered in the 1982 round of cuts, mean­ing that the corn bined College started its working life in debt de pite a merger enhance­ment grant. Until thi session, however, there had been room for some optimi m; the1982 cuts had been coped with and the annual deficit had been reduced from£ I,526,000 in that year to £65,000 in 1986.

King' pre ent ituatJOn wa~ de 'cribed by thl:. Prim:ipal a "very eriou .. , and whill' ack­nowledging that il reflected a natlonal problem, he pointed out that we were m dIffI­culties in two pecific respect, FIrStly, an accumulated deficit has built up, brought byeach of the three constituent ollege in the merger; econdly. academic activity i cur­rently split over three ites whIch both cau e and exacerbate financial problems. TheCollege is already acting on the 'econd powt, having raIsed the IS ue at the la l (ourtmeeting and the Principal having made our case lO the Ice-Chancellor, Lord Flowers.Members of tafT WIll doublle also be aware of our success m obtaining governmentalpermission to purchase the lea e of Cornwall Hou 'e. The 'e positIve moves may wellhave a favourable effect. financially, in the long term, but that pro peet doe n't dimini hthe need to make immediate avings, from I ugu, t, the beginl1lng of the new financialyear.

By this time, though multi-site operation was taking its toll, and thi ses ion both thenew London resource allocation system and significant unfunded salary increases haveserved to reverse sharply the previous trend towards recovery. Only 3.5% was built in tothis year's budget for salary inflation, set against actual ettlements of 24% (over threeyears) for academic and related staff,S. % for technician and a likely comparable awardfor clerical and related tafL This anomaly has obviou Iy led to a major escalation in de­ficit with the re ult that our cumulative deficit will be un ustainably large by the end ofthe current financial year.

OVER THE HILL...

The prognosis for the future is not any brighter; our block recurrent grant for 19 7-8announced by the University Court represents an increa e of only 1.7% (the base line ofthe 'safety net' the Court is operating) on the 1986-87 amount - a full 2% less than ex­pected. So our totaJ available non-medical re ource of £32.6 million will be significantlyoverspent which in turn will add further to the cumulative deficit. We have also beengiven provisional figures by the Court for the years up to the 19 9/90 session which in­dicate the equivalent of a real cut of over 20% in the next three years in our block grant.The implication of such cuts are clearly horrendous, but the ollege will have criticalproblem of liquidity well in advance of their implementation. An overdrait iacility of£2 million has been arranged with our bankers which gives a 'breathing spa_c' but thiis at best a debt and i certainly not a solu tion.

A part of a course of action to obviate such a cri is the ollege has put in train a re­source allocation system which mirrors the University' . A t present the University form-

continued in ide, p.2

Approximately 30 people attended, reflect­ing a wide spectrum of interest; the media,academic institu tion , council, family andfriend were all represented. VirginiaGam ba's work on the conflict has arousedmuch attention with articles in the Independent and the Times Higher J::ducationSupplement, radio interviews and po sibleinvolvement with an edition of Panorama.

Copies of the book, published by Unwin­Hyman Ltd, are available from most goodbookshops, priced it5.00 for hardback and£ .95 for paperback.

1

INGOVER

Continued from p.I

ula of distribution i detrimental to King'becau e it includes a significant judgement­al factor calculated on the results of theUG peer review. The University distribut­ion pattern which reflects that of the UGCallocates a significant portion of the resour­ces available in selective judgemental terms.The ollege has suffered here because ofits record in re earch ratings and researchincome in scientific areas. Undoubtedlythis reflects judgements made before andduring the merger period. We are beginningto see the improvements in some depart­ments which we expect to be the legacy ofthe merger and will be giving evidence ofthis to the ourt. However, the immediateimplication of all this is that the Collegehas target savings of £3.6 million to ach­ieve. If thi figure were applied as staffcuts it would translate as 200 jobs, 70-80of which would be academic. But the Fin­ance Officer indicated that the optimumapproach would be the generation of moremore income rather than the sole reduc­tion of staff.

Although the Principal traced the root ofour problems to a basic shortage of fundsas a direct result of government policy, heaid that there was no question of the

"cavalry coming over the hill" in a fewweeks with a solution, which, in effect, liesmainly in our hands. Staff should en urethat all income associated with research,including gifts of equipment, is accountedfor through central books, as such incomeearns add-on cash through the Court grantssystem. Additionally, flexibility of ap­proach could lead to secondment ontoother salary bills or redeployment withindifferent areas of the College to redress thebalance. Individual members of staff arealso encouraged to seek details of PRCS,which could often be applied without fin­ancial detriment. A letter is going to allmembers of Academic and Academic­Related Staff.

Both the Principal and the Finance Officerdeclared themselves heartened by the ini­tial response they had received from staffto the College's situation. Despite the veryserious problems, David Ball said, therewas now room for cautious optimism.And the Principal described the College'stask as "daunting, but not unmanageableif we all act together".

THE COMPUTER A 0 THE GYM

Recent press articles may have drawnyour attention to the fact that it is cur­rently proposed to house the new main­frame computer in the present Strandgym in A corridor. Or Venetia France,with the endorsement of -

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Mr D Hughe (Sub-Dean, Laws)Professor A Whittall (Head, Music)Dr Smith (Sub-Dean, ngineering)Profe or M Gin burg (Dean, Basic

Medical Science)Dr M W Robin ( ub-Dean BMS)Dr P B unn (Sub-Dean BMS)Mr G RP Lawrence Sub-Dean rt)Revd R J Coggin (Sub-Dean, Theology)Profes or S G Hall (Head, Christian

Doctrine and Hi tory)

has written a follows to the Principal:-

LOCAno OF THE EW COLLEGECOMPUTER

Dear Principal

We understand that it has been agreed bythe Building Committee that the newmainframe and ancillary services are to be10 ated in the tudent gym at the Strand:further, it seems that tenders have goneout for conversion works before the prop­osal has been agreed by the Planning andResources Committee. We heard of thisplan very recently and the lack of con­sultation is a matter of concern.

We know that taking over the gym willreduce the attractiveness of King's forpro pective tudents. Falling rates of app­lication are now of concern in some dep­artments: many of us are already em bar-ra sed at the lack of student facilitie whenshowing applicants round. More than halfour six thousand students are taught onthis site. Present students have indicatedat open meetings that this plan is unsat­isfactory and the alternative rooms onoffer in the S[rand building are not anadequate substitute for the facilities theywill lose. As subdeans and others, we areparticularly aware of the bleak future ifwe fail to attract adequate number ofundergraduate students to King's.

It ha been propo ed that computer ser­vices best upply the academic needs ofthe College if they are physically adjacent.With modern networking and a mergedCollege this hould not be considered. Itis an immediate primitive solution whichis unsatisfactory in view of the consider­able damage that would be done to theattractiveness of the College to pro pec­tive studen ts.

Yours incerelyVenetia France

The view of the Chairman of the BuildingCommittee and of the Chairman of theComputer Policy Committee and Directorof Computing Services are outlined below.

THE BUILDINGS COMMITTEE ANDTHE STRAND GYMNASIUM

The letter from Dr France and her co­signatories contains errors of fact, and an

untested a sertion that the Building ommittee ha made a decision that putundergraduate recruitment seriou Iy atri k. 0 invitations to tender have yetbeen is ued, and discus ion with relevantstudent officer have been a priority andare continuing. The matter wa men­tioned at the last Planning and ResourcesCommittee in accordance with normalBuildings Committee practice.

The decision by the Building Committeein re pect of the Strand site gymnasiumwas prompted by two major policy de­cisions of the College. A grant of £ I. 7Mfrom the Computer Board for the instal­ation of a new main-frame computer hasbeen accepted, and the Finance Staffingand General Purposes Committee hasdecreed the closure of the Pulton Placeannexe in 1987 instead of in 1991 inorder to save over £300,000 per annumin recurrent expenditure. To do this, iti necessary to find accommodation forthat part of the Computer Centre pre­ently there, and for substantial re earch

units belonging to the Department ofElectronic and Electrical Engineering,a well as solving the problem of plac­ing the new computer on a suitablesite before March 1988. This deadlineis imposed by the financial proceduresof the omputer Board.

Do all these activities require to be housedon the Strand? Long-term planning indi­cates that they must be. The unificationof the Department of Electronic and Elec­trical Engineering on the Strand is an ess­ential part of future College strategy andit would be financial and academic folly tocontemplate an intermediate move ofelectronics research to another outlyingsite. Similarly, a decision eventually toplace the major part of the ComputerCentre on the Strand was taken as long agoas 1985 when a room, now known to betoo mall, was reserved for what was thento be a relatively modest accession to ourcomputing facilities. In any event, thesecuring of the lease of Cornwall Housemeans that we expect to dispose of allother College campuses within theexpected lifetime of the new computer.

Certain areas of the Strand site are readyfor redevelopment, notably the top floorsof the East Wing and the former Engineer­ing Library rooms on A corridor. Otherscan be made available as Civil Engineeringcontracts, and by more efficient use ofteaching rooms. Detailed studies of thepossibilities led to the assignment to theComputer Centre of the old EngineeringLibrary rooms together with currently­used offices on either side, and the with­drawal of some of their existing facilitieselsl'wherc on A corridor, now required forEngineering from Pulton Place. The netgain of space by the Computer Centre fromthese moves was inadequate, and use of thegymnasium as well is the only way to housethe new computer in a satisfactory mannerwithin the limited time available before the

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UF CTUR-

or further information, please contactKCL Re earch Enterprise at the Kensing­ton campus (extension 474 or 394, or on937 314).

EWS 0 RESEARCH AID FROM THEEUROPEA COMMU ITY

Pro e or R E Burge - Chairman, Compu­ter Polic Committee

Or A J Byerley - Director of ComputingSen'ice

E S FROM KCL RESE RCHE TERPRISES

Finall , we mu t onvince the ComputerBoard and the Uni er ity that e areadoptlIlg a radically ne approach to om­putlng or there an be no guarantee thatthe ollege will continue to be funded atthe new level It ha man ged to hleveafter the very on iderable effort of 0

many taft

CME (Application of Computer to Man­ufacturing Engineering) wa et up by theScience and Engineering Re earch Councilin 19 4 to fund and coordinate re earchand training In univer Hie and polytech­nics in the field of advanced manufacturingtechnology. According to it nnuaJ Rep-ort for 19 5/6, A 1E awarded 7.3 millionpound worth of aid dunng this period toS I projects beIng conducted in 54 K In t­Itulc . Re earch is carried out in collabor­ation with indu trial partner who arc ex­pected to provide 5-20% of the total proJ­ect cost. Within the Report, ACM contin­ues to encourage appli ation which pre. entinnovative and commercially relevant res­earch in all manufacturing areas, for exam­ple in computer aided engineering design,advanced production ystems and machine,artificial intelligence and planning andmanagement. A Mh also gives support topotgraduate training and conferences rel­evant to manufacturing.

K L Re earch Enterprise have produceda brochure entitled The European Com­munity's 1987-1991 Framework Prog­ramme jor Science and Technology Res­earch. This is a summary of the grantbeing offered by the European Commis ionin various field ,including health, energy,the environment and information technol- Iogy. Five copies have been sent to eachDepartment with a potential interest in anyof these areas, for circulation. Regular up­date concerning the current tate of eachProgramme will be issued within a Bulletin Idistributed periodically by Research nter­prises. A summarised li t of the Programmesbeing dealt with in each of these Bulletinswill appear in Comment for general refer­ence, Our success rate with the European

ommi sion grant funding ha recently been

that the ollege knew how much moneyit had to pend and then not until the endof ~1arch 19 ,when the propo 1 0 up­plier had been recei ed, hortli ted anddis u ~d with in tallation engineer. thatthe ollege -new how much pa e wouldbe needed by the new y tem. The College\\a pre ented with a urther problemince it i also vital that the pa e i a\'ail-

able before hr tma 19 : not only be ­au e of the urgent need to I1TIprove facilit­ie , but ab-o becau e of the way in whichmoney i pro ided by the Computer Boardand the ri 0 10 tng at lea t the fir t in t­alment were there to be any delay beyondthIS date.

ubstantial Machine Room 1 needed toaccommodate the new y tem and it per­ipheral and communication equipment.However, there are also e ential a ociatedpace requirement. tape hbrary/dalatore mu t be adja ent int:e it al 0 will

need to be au conditioned and operatorwill be regularly carrying tape ba k andforth between the data tore and the mach­lIle room control room for the comp­uter operator must be provided nearby,together with an associated area whereusers can go to collect computer outputand commUnIcate with the operators overa counter about any matter 111 onneclionwith the running ot their job. It IS alsoImportant that oft ice for ystems taff arcprovided nearby ince they, like operators,have a regular requirement to move backand forth between their offices and theMachtne Room. In addition, it i highJyde Hable, from a u er's point of iew, tohave the applications advisory office phys­ically close to the operations desk since itis often necessary to refer user from oneto the other.

Or France's letter also refers to the dangerof prospective students being discouragedby a lack of faciJitie . We entirely agreeand we hope and believe that Gym facili­tie can continue to be provided. Butcomputing and communications facilitieswill also be of growing interest and import­ance to potential students in all disciplinesince they will be increasingly central tothe effectiveness of the ollege's teachingand research programmes and therefore toits national and international reputation.

We note that the letter from Or Franceand others makes the point that it is un­nece sary for the Centre' facilities to bephysically adjacent to one another. Infact. although it would be highly desirablefrom the point of view of the efficiencyof the Centre for many of it facilities tobe adjacent to one another, it is physi­cally split acro s four site (includingK SMD) and on the Strand campu alone,even allowing for the new accommoda­tion planned for A corridor in the mainBuilding, it will remain in three 'eparatelocations. Only tho e activitie which arevital to the efficient running of the newMachine Room are planned to be physi­cally associated with it.

THE ACCOMMODATIO OF THE COM­pun GCENTRE

Profe or H.J.V. TyrrellChairman, Building Committee

The omputer Policy Committee whichcame into existence after the mergerundertook an immediate analy is of thecentral computing and communicationsfacilities which were available to the newCollege. They were found to be not implypoor in compari on with other comparableinstitutions but completely inadequate anda major handicap to the effectiveness ofthe College' teaching and re earch prog­ramme at a time when the competItionfor re ource between universille I grow­ing.

omputer arrive. Mo t of the other p ceavailable ha had to be as igned to theEngineering faculty, apart from a room. orroom . re erved to pro ide ome at least ofthe facilitie currently a ailable III theStrand gymna ium. The cheme adoptedby the BuildlIlg Committee will give theCollege a rea onably atisfa tory locationfor the nev. main-frame computer andthe a ociated activities, with rather lethan adequate pace for electronicsre earch unit withdrawn from PultonPlace. It is an imperfect olution butwa judged to be the be t that could beachieved at the pre ent time.

The 10 s of the Strand gymna ium ha quiteproperly arou ed oncem. he BuildingCommittee did not lightly accept it, butcould find no other way of atisfying theacademi requirements consequent uponthe two major poli y deci ion referred toabove. Every effort i being made to mlll­gate the problem which arise from the 10of the Strand gymnasium, both In the hortterm and in the longer term. An earlierproposal to place a sport complex on the'playground' ite instead of the one- toreybuilding pre ently there is being re-exam­ined and ketch de igns prepared in con ul­tation WIth intere ted partie . ObvJOu Iythis cannot happen immediately. Thepre ent building house Civil Engineeringactivitie , and finance has yet to be arrang­ed but planning mu t start qUickly, andthe need for Indoor sports facilItie on theThame ide campus kept firmly in view.

Member of the Computer Poltcy ommit­tee and the omputing Centre thereforebegan a major exercise to convince the

niver ity and the omputer Board of theeriou ne of the ollege' ituation. t

fir t, £ 00,000 wa on offer to upgradefacilitie . but finally, after a great deal ofeffort by mem bers of the ollege, the fig­ure wa increased to £ 1,700,000. This rep­resents a major achievement and it willenable the College to be provided withacademic computing resources which willbe comparable with the best in the coun­try.

I1 t wa not untiJ the end of January 19 7

running at a low level. Staff are a ked toconsider where their research interestsmight fit into Community funding.

LECTURES, MEETINGS AND SEMINARS

Additional copies of the brochure and fur­ther information may be obtained fromRuth Bishop, Secretary to the DirectorKCL Research Enterprises, at the aboveaddress.

ACADEMIC DEVELOPME TFU D 1987-88

The arrangements for the administrationof awards from the ADF for the comingsession will be similiar to those appliedlast year, with some adjustments: in thecriteria by which applications to the Fundwill be assessed; in the division of theresources available and in the manner inwhich submissions should be constructed.The income from the Fund for 1987-88will be comparable to that generated for1986-87, that is, approximately £40,000.

The aim of the Fund, as stated by thePrincipal when it was established last year,is to stimulate 'new ideas within King'swhich hold promise of growth and devel­opment in its widest sense ..... in principleany initiative which has scope for aidingand a betting the academic developmentof the College can be considered.' Thus,a successful application to the Fund islikely to be one which displays not onlyoriginality, but 'promise of growth anddevelop men t' within an existing or pro­posed framework of research.

There has been a marginal, but important,adjustment to the administration of theFund. Last year its income was allocatedin three blocks, the first having a minimumvalue of £20,000 and the second blockbeing a collection of smaller awards andgrants, with a value of about £5,000.

This session Block I will be in the regionof £25,000, while Block 2 will consist ofeither one award with a maximum valueof £ 12,000, or two awards totallingapproximately £ 12,000. Block 3 will beused for topping-up or for schemes whichcould not qualify for Blocks I and 2.

Applications for Block I funding shouldbe made through departments bu t filteredby faculties, Block 2 applications may bemade direct by departments or individuals.Applicants will be scrutinised by an inde­pendent panel of 'moderators' and in thecase of Block 2 applications, they will lookcarefully at schemes which exhibit origin­ality and coherence.'

For details about how to apply and theguidelines of the Fund, contact StephenHarrow, Assistant Secretary (Planning).

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DEPARTME T OF ELECTRO IC ANDELECYRICAL E CINEERINGRESEARCH SEMINARS

Thursday 4 JuneI TEGRATED IG FET LOGIC 0 GAASMark Bowser

1.30pm - 2.30pm, Room B202, PultonPlace

Thursday 11 JuneLOW-COST IMAGE SENSORSOliver Sedlacek

1.30pm - 2.30pm, Room llA Strandcampus

Thursday 18 JuneDECODl G TECHNIQUES FOR CON­VOLUTIO AL CODESOr W G Cham bers

1.30pm . 2.30pm, Room B202, PultonPlace

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ANDPHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SEMINARS

Wednesday 3 JuneARE THERE REVOLUTIONS 1MATHEMATICS?Ms C Dunmore, Wolfson College, Oxford

Wednesday 10 JuneISSAC NEWTON AND HARMONICSOENCE:ASEVENTEENTH~ENTURY

PYTHAGOREAN?Or P Gouk, Linacre College, Oxford

Wednesday 17 JunePLATO'S ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUA­TIONOr M M Mackenzie, New Hall, Cambridge

Wednesday 24 JuneLONDON CHEMISTRY IN THE FIRSTHALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURYOr 0 M Knight, University of Durham

2.1Spm, Room IB06, Strand campus

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHYCOLLOQUIUM

Wednesday 10 JuneME TAL ACT AS VEHICLEProfessor Richard Wollheim, BerkeleyDiscussion opened by Professor Christo­pher Peacocke

4.30pm, Room 2C, Strand campus

DEPARTME T OF MECHA ICALE Cl EER G RESEARCH SEMINAR

Wedne day 3 JuneCAD I I DUSTRY: A US R'SE PERIE CEOr L 0 Seneviratne, KCL

3.30pm . 4.30pm, Room 2808, Strandcampus

CENTRE FOR EDUCATIONAL STUDIESSEMINAR

Wednesday 3 JuneRESE RCH AND DEVELOPME TINADULT VOCATIO AL EDUCATIOOr W A Bridge, ewham CommunityCollegeChaired by Tony Mansell

4.30pm . 6.30pm, Room 3.020, HudsonBuilding, Chelsea campus

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDONPUBLIC LECTURES

Wednesday 3 JuneThe William Townsend LectureTHE GRAND MA NERMr Clement Greenberg

Tuesday 9 JuneAn Inaugural LectureFROM MOLECULES TO MEDICINESOr C R Ganellin, Smith Kline and FrenchProfessor of Medicinal Chemistry

Thursday 11 JuneThe Stewartson Memorial LectureDYNAMICS OF FLUID INTERFACESProfessor S H Davis, Professor of Engineer­ing Sciences and Applied Mathematics,

orthwestern University

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN MEET­INGS

Thursday 11 JuneThe Clifford Paterson LectureAT HOME WITH SCIE CE A 0 TECH­NOLOGYProfessor G G Roberts, FRS

Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 JuneDiscussion MeetingFREQUE CY-DEPENDENT SELECTIOOrganized by Professor B C Clarke, FRS,Or L Partridge and Professor A Robertson,FRS

THE MAY BALL

The King's Colleg~ nnual Ma~ Ball againproved to be an overv.. helming succe .ThlS year' event v.a the ~ ond in a r c­ent revival 01 n old College traditIOndating back to the 1920 v.hen Reggie.the Colkge mas ot, 'a only a ub. nydoubt a to the fea ibihty ot holdtng u ha fun tion In th~ I Y Cl . parth.ularly withregard to tudent upport han: now beendispelled. and hopefully the Ball will run,in it pre ent form, for many year to come.

On Saturday 2nd May, 380 member~ and'honorary members' of College enjoyed amemorable evening at The Savoy Hotel In

the pre ence of HRH Reggie and ice­PrinCipal, Profes or Tyrrell, who gave abrief introductory speech.

Although the rel:eptJon was cheduled totart in the A braham Lincoln Room at th~

early time of 6.30 pm, such wa theenthu ia m 01 everal student that theyarrived at 6.00 pm. eager to enjoy them-elve and get the party off to a good

start. These lucJ..y few were privl1eg~d toee ome of the la t minute preparation~

and get ome idea of the va t amount 01work pu t in by the organi er , Ul ord~r toen ure an evening to remember.

By 7.00 pm the majority of the guests hadarrived and the Abraham Lincoln Roomwas packed with some of the best-dres edstudents and College taff in the country.Atmo phenc piano mu ic was providedthroughou t the reception by Mr GeorgeReady and a highly professional dl play.designed by Miss Keiko Obayashi andOr Tatham, on some novel aspects ofCollege's foundation and previou studentactivities had pride of place along onewall. Further entertainment wa suppliedby members of the Ball Committee attempt­ing to ex tract money from guests forrame tickets.

Dinner was called by our Master ofCeremonies for the evening, Mr Marlin

icholl and everyone made their way upto the Lanca ter Ballroom, the entrance towhich wa guarded by Reggie. fler abrief welcoming speech by Profe orTyrrell who also said grace, the gue tsettled down to a sumptuou dinner beaut­ifully erved, as ever, by the Savoy'sBanquetting staff. This year' menu wasparticularly well received with an imagina­tive com bination of a mousse starter; creamof vegetable oup; lamb cutlets and a pUlkchampagne orbet; with wines to match.Subtle background music was playedthroughou t the meal by a trio of theJohnny Howard Band.

Reggie declined the offer of a meal andzealously maintained his vigil at theentrance to the Ballroom. He had beensmuggled from his den within the bowels

fter the Ro> al toa t, propo ed by.~r ndrev. Cox ( hairman, Ball Commi­ttee), who al 0 gave a loyal toa t toHRH ReggIe, ralOe prize were drawn bythe Ma ter of Cercmonie~. The 1irst prize,won by Katic Southern, wa. a mixed ca eof excellent wines including 2 bottles ofchampagne. Other prize included twohall ca"e 01 wine. tv. 0 magnum 01 cham­pagne, and a bo ot Belgian chocolate.

u ic for the re t of the e\ening wauperbly perlormed by the Johnny Howard

Dance Bam.l In full 13,plcce lormat. It Ia fitting tribute to th e \ery t Icntedmu iciam that thl' dan e floor n:m3In'dpa ked throughollt t hl'lr very v.lde reper­tOire 01 popular mu i , old and new, v.hlchranged lrom Glenn MIller to the late t~adonna hIt. The Ball wa fittinglyrounded off with Auld L ng Sync and the• 'ational nthem.

Reggie's tranSformation: (top) a wash and brush-up ill the quail, (left) the joumthe embankment, and (next page) in pride olplace at the Sallo\' Bal/room.

The official function finished at I am, buta few hardened revellers managed to con­tinue the celebrations at S tringfellows until3.30 am. Encouraged by this feat of endur­ance, they retired to recover their strengthwith large amounts of black coffee andbraced themselves for dawn. They had. onemore important engagement still to per­form. These urvivors were all present atthe Savoy (at 8 am prompt) for breakfastin the distinguished presence of Reggiewho had awaited their return. After anextermely lively four-course breakfast,Reggie was finally escorted back to theplace from whence he came.

Many thanks and congratulations are dueto all those who so willingly gave theirtime and effort into making the Ballthe tremendous success that it was,including:

Coutts & Co, (College Bankers) for theirvaluable financial assistance for theOoral decorations;

Sandra Gee, Principal's Secretary, for hertime, energy and very professionalOoral displays in the Lancaster Ballroom,Reception Room and around HRHReggie;

Also to Sandra and Jane for ticketsales, table plans and all those "little'problems;

To members of the Committee:

8usan Kenworthy - Mr A Cox's under­study and general dog's body(Vice-Chairperson)

David Kettlewell - Pu blicity, tickets andwashing Reggie

Karirn Elmasry - Finance and transportof Reggie (hope the Volvo is alright)

6

Keiko Obayashi - Reception display andhistory of Reggie

Dot Papuga and Karin Mursinghi - forthe sale of raffle tickets, help withOoral decorations and moving Reggie.

And of course, to all the Savoy Banquet­ing staff and members of the JohnnyHoward Band for making this Ball a veryspecial occasion.

However, the biggest' thank you" of allmust surely go to the Chairman of theBall Committee himself, Mr Andrew Cox.The revival of the College Ball last yearwas primarily his doing and without hisexpert guidance, this year's event mightnot have got off the ground. He leavesus at the end of this academic year topursue a career with Chemical Bank - wewish him well; his experience will besorely missed.

Work is already underway for next year'sBall and those involved promise to makeit an even better event. Put Saturday,7th May 1988 in your diary and startsaving for what will undoubtedly beanother spectacular evening and definitelyone not to be missed. Watch out forfurther details in Comment for whentickets come on sale, they sell out veryquickly!

David KettlewellPublicity, Ball Committee

STAFF NEWS

OBITUARY

PROFESSOR A J B ROBERTSON

It is with regret that we announce thedeath of Professor A J B Robertson whopassed away on 29th April 1987.

Professor Robertson was a Fellow ofKing's College and also Emeritus Professorof Chemistry.

A memorial service is being arranged anddetails will be given when finalised.

MARATHON MEN

Four members of staff took part in andcompleted the 1987 London Marathon(did anyone spot them on TV?). We thinkcongratulations are due to:

Or W J Harvey (Mathematics Department)158th 2h 29m 44s

Mr J Thomas (Estates Office)436th 2h 37m 54s

Mr P 8aunders (Biology Department)9l9th 2h 46m 23s

Or P Markham (Microbiology Department)9,922th 3h 43m 33s

Special congratulations to Or Markhamwho was participating in his first marathon.Let's hope it won't be his last!

ACCOMMODATION OFFICE

Mrs Clare Beddoe took up her post asHead-Leasing Assistant on 22 April andwill be based at the Strand Office.

TELEPHONE CHANGES

DEAN'S OFFICE

Mr EH Warrell (College Organist)- Extension 82600 (not S2391)

1987 GOLF COMPETITION

The 14th Annual Golf Competition (2ndQEC Memorial Tournament) was held onWednesday, 6th May at Richmond GolfCourse. A large field of entrants enjoyedthe fine weather, which helped to produceunder-average scores.

Surprise winner was Fred Armitage(Chemistry) who produced his best-everround (net 86). John Wrigglesworth(Biochemistry) was runner-up with a net92. Keith Ewart (Microbiology) took thebest score trophy with a 78, and eilBramwell (Food Science) earned thewooden spoon with 125. Commisera­tions were exchanged at the 19th hole inthe Dysart Arms.Thanks are due to Steve Whiting for organ­isation of the facilities.

Pete Bennetto

LIBRARY NEWS

ANNUAL RECALL OF BOOKSBORROWED FROM THE STRAND

Mem bers of the College are reminded thatall books at present on loan from theStrand must be brought into the Libraryby 30 June. On this occasion, loans maynot be renewed by telephone.

OPE ING HOURS

Every effort will be made to maintain theadvertised opening hours until the end ofthe examination period, staff shortagesmay oblige us to close some parts of theLibrary at short notice.

On Saturdays up to and including 13 Juneexcept those preceding the bank holidays,the following sections will be open: LawsLibrary, Strand Building Library andQueen Elizabeth Library.

During June, opening hours will be re­duced as shown below:

Strand Campus

Embankment Librarycloses 1730 daily from 12 June

Laws Libraryopens 0930 daily from 22 Junecloses 1730 daily from 15 June

Music Librarycloses 1730 daily from 15 June

Old Librarycloses 1730 daily from 15 June

Strand Building Libraryopens 0930 daily from 15 Junecloses 1900 daily from 12 Junecloses 1730 daily from 22 June

Strand LevelScloses 1730 daily from 5 June

Kensington Campus

The Queen Elizabeth Library will close at1730 daily from 15 June to 30 June (thelast full day of term), after which it willclose at 1700.

Chelsea Campus

a) King's Road Up to 3 July, the Coler­idge Library will be open as follows:

Mon 09.00 - 20.00Tue 09.00 - 20.30Wed 09.00 - 20.00Thur 09.00 - 20.30Fri 09.00-17.00

b) Manresa Road Evening opening until20.00 will continue up to 18 June. From19 to 26 June the Library will close at18.00, and from 29 June it will close at17.00

RETIRING?

In view of the current financial climate,and at the suggestion of an academic mem­ber of staff, the Library has a copy of

BROW ,Rosemary.Good retirement guide 1987.Duckworth 1986. £8.95 (Spon­sored by Save and Prosper)

There are 388 pages filled with advice(general and financial), names and addre ­ses of associations, government depart­ments, societies, etc., which someonecontemplating retirement may find use­ful. The 'early retirer' gets an occasionalmention, when there is a variation fromthe normal retirement payments of bene­fits.

The first 100 pages deal with money andits management, another large sectioncovers the means of starting an independ­ent business or looking for paid work,whilst leisure health, and holidays receivesu bstantial attention also.

A useful check list for those approachingretirement.

The book is held at Manresa Road Library,for one-week loan.

DONATIONS

Rowntree-Mackintosh have kindly donated£50 to the Library to help towards thepurchase of Nutrition textbooks. This istheir contribution to King's to mark the50th Anniversary of Kit Kat.

£200 has been generously donated byJ Sainsbury plc to enable the Library topurchase more technical food sciencemonographs.

ENHANCED PHOTOCOPYINGSERVICE IN STRAND BUILDINGLIBRARIES

We have recently installed a new photo­copier on each of the four levels of theStrand Building Library. These machines,which replace the two machines previouslyavailable on Levels I and 4, offer reductionand enlargement as well as A3 and A4copying. Until certain modifications havebeen made to the Flexicard system, staffFlexicards may be used only at the photo­copier on Level 1.

LIBRARIAN ELECTED

Congratulations are extended to DerekLaw the College Librarian, on his appoint­ment to the Council of the Library Associ­ation. He is one of only two universitylibrarians on the Council.

NEWS ROUND-UP

PEARL IS 0 THE MOVE AGAJ

College staff in the vicinity of the GreatHall on 30 April may have been surprisedto see a flurry of activity, the object ofwhich was 'Pearl' - the steam locomotivehoused on the balcony half-way up thestairs. The above picture shows membersof the Mechanical Engineering Departmentmanoeuvering the engine by means of pul­leys and tracks, so that it could be moved(temporarily) to Rhymney Museum foran exhibition commemorating the 6-0thanniversary of the Rhymney, Hythe andBimchurch Line. Happily, Pearl will beback with us in late Septem ber, when theengineers will presumably have the unen­viable task of getting her back up the stairs!

TADION-RIDEAL PRIZE

The 1986 Tadion-Rideal Prize of £ I ,000for the most distinguished PhD inMolecular Science was shared betweenDr T Enver, Biophysics Department,Dr Marion Rand Weaver of the Biochem­istry Department, and by Dr M KWilkinson of the Physics Department, whoreceived his certificate and cheque fromthe Principal at the Graduate Reception onthe 12th May.

Entries for the 1987 prize are now wel­comed. The closing date for receipt ofapplications for the prize (which must beaccompanied by a copy of the PhD the­sis) is 30th June 1987. Applicationsshould be addressed to the DeputyAcademic Registrar.

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Prole or Turner was a1 0 recentl} electedhalrman of the Engineering Profe or

Conference.

Richard Overill

ma lerl overview of the many novel ande Oll de Ign of parallel omputer Whl hhave recenlly appeared on the ene,lolio\\ ed by a lucid e riptlon of unplemodel -haracterising the per10rman e ofu h omputer n real programs. He'on luded by pre enting newly obtainedre ult 01 per orman I.' mea urement onthe L AP computer'ystem ill Rome.

Theul:e of Ihe le ture may perhap begauged by the fact that Professor Ho kneyafternard found him elf une. pe tedlyinundated with requests to autographtudent . personal copies 01 hIS text book

'Parallel Computer' !P R LLEL COMP TER EXPERT

ISITS COLLEGE

b) One free opy of a Forensl len eSo iet} Monograph of the Student'

hoi -e.A heque being a ontnbutlon to thepurcha I.' 01 a econd boo' 01 the

lUdent' hOI 'e.Foren I lence SOl,lety pldqul::.

Thl a\\ ard v. ill be presen ted 10 the uc s-tultudent al the Society , G~1 lor

v. hich lravelltng and a ommodation ex­pen'e wlll be met by the Society.

ARDPL ~1ETROLOGY

ongratulations are olfered to Profes orharles Turner ..... ho ha been awarded one

of the.' JlIonal Phy i al Laboratory 19 7~1etrolog}l pnzes for his wor' on acou li­

al imagmg devices. The Prize. worth£. 1.000, i one 01 three awarded annuallyin a 'ompetJllon open to all a ademi'tall in UK umver'itie and polytechmcs.

BIOTECHS OFFER TO SOLVE THE COLLEGE'S Fr

o

A one day conference on the above tOPICi to be held by the department of

ur mg StudIes at the Chel ea ampuson Wednesday, 17th June.

The aml of thi' national conference onI ur mg Research in Terminal Care is toenable nurse Interested in thlS subject tomeet together and exchange idea. Re­search IS ues In terminal care will beaddre sed and a number of studIes whichhave been completed or are currentlybeing undertaken by nurses WIll be pre­sented.

In hi lecture, Professor Hockney gave a

Professor Roger Hod..ney. an mternation­ally renowned expert on parallel ompu­ters. VI Ited King" on Monday I May togJW a SpeCial gue t lecture to the ompu­ling tudent of C 6 and mem bers ofstaff from the Computillg Centre and lheDepartment of Computing. The invitationto the College resulted from a chanceencounter between Roger Hockney (whohad JU t returned trom a year' sabbaticalin Rome) and RI hard Overill of the Com­puting Centre, at a recent meeting of theBnti h omputer SocIety' Parallel Pro-ce sing Speciah t Group.

Both the Briti h Academy of Foren icScience and the Foren ic Science Societyv. J1I be awar9ing prize thl year for themo lout tandmg MS tu dent on theForen ic Science cour 'e.

The former are offenng an award of £ 100for the be t project work submitted.mem ber of the J\cademy will be repre ent­ed on the SelectIOn Panel.

al Free Member hip of the Foren icScience Society for one year.

The latter award consists of:

Once again thl year all the competing tcams in Barclay Bank BIOtechnology Inve tmentCompetition did better than average on the London Stockmarkel. The winmng tcamincreased their initial £ 10,000 to £ 18,896 over a period of nine weeks. Detail are gIvenbelow. It is reliably rumoured that Messrs Morrison, Anwar and Ahmadi may maketheir expertise available for a modest monetary consideration.

For further details contact:

Profcssor 1 W Roxburgh, Head of Schoolof Mathematical Sciences at Queen MaryCollege has been appointed Pro-Principalof the College for a 3-year term.

Profe or T Smith ha been appointedSenior Pro-Principal of Queen MaryCollege for a 3-year term. Trevor Smith iProfe sor of Political Studies at the Collegeand currently Vice-Chairman of the PolitI­cal Studies ssociation of the United King­dom and a Director of the weekly ocialscience Journal ew Society. He ha beena Trustee of the Joseph Rowntree SocialServices Trust Limited since 1975 andrecently became its Chairman.

Mrs Sally Simsursing Studies

Chel ea Campus (552 King's Road)

4

5

3

FI ALPOSITlOI G ME

ACCR EDDEPOSITACCO TI TEREST

III I ,896

39 11,979

26 11,358

31 16,431

19 11,440

D MORRISOFA WARK AHMADI

WI I G T AM- A

COMME Cl GI ESTME T"ALLOWA CE"

Biotechnology lnve tment Game - Final Positions as at 16th April 1987

TEAM TOTAL O.OFSH RI VE TME TTRA SACTIO S

A B Fifteen 10,000S Fifteen

B BTwo 10,000S One

C B Four 10,000S One

D B Twelve 10,000S Eleven

E B Twelve 10,000SSix

STOCK EXCHA GEI DEX 27th January 1411.2

16th April 1540.3

CREASE 9.15%

9.15% on original £ I 0,000 = £ I0,916Professor M A Laughton has been reap-

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pointed Pro-Principal until July 1988.He is Professor of Electrical Engineeringat the ollege.

HOUSE EXCHA GE

Adelaide (South Australian) dentist wishesto exchange house and carts preferablywith a professional or academic person(and their family) in the UK (preferablyin London area). The house in Adelaidehas 12 rooms (5 bedrooms) and there aretwo family cars. The house is 5 minutesfrom the University, main city hospital,medical and dental schools. The exchangerequired would be for a reasonably largehouse and car in the UK during the periodof May to July (approximately) in 1988.Write to: Dr Dale Gerke, 60 Seventh Ave.,St. Peters, 5069, South Australia.

COLLEGE APPOINTS NEW DEAN

Reverend Canon Reginald Askew has beenappointed Dean of the College.

Currently Principal of Salisbury and WellsTheological College, Canon Askew willtake up his appointment on I January1988.

Canon Askew succeeds the ReverendRichard Harries, who was ordained Bishopof Oxford at St Pauls Cathedral on Thurs­day 28 May. A full profile of the newDean will appear in the next edition ofComment.

HOUSE TO LET

DORDOG E: riverside house in delight­fullocation, Brantome: sleeps I I in twoseparate and self-contained flats, 3 down­stairs and 8 upstairs. Available nowthrough Septem ber with the exception ofsome weeks already booked in July/August. For further information, photos,etc., please ring Ext. 366 I, Chelsea.

HOME FROM HOME

If you fancy visiting Belgium this summer,you could stay at the State University ofGhent in their student residences. As wellas accomodation facilities, it is possible toorganise conferences and meetings there.Further details are available from theAccomodation Office.

ANNUAL COLLEGE OUTING

The Annual College Outing will be onWednesday, 5th August 1987. Coacheswill depart from the Embankment Ent­rance, Strand Site, at 9.15 am for Windsor,where the party will board a river steamerfor a relaxing journey to Cookham (forlunch) and Marlow. The coaches will leaveMarlow at 7.30 pm and should be back atthe Embankment by 9.00 pm. The costwill be £ 10 per head. Numbers are limitedso apply now to J Rumbell, StationeryStore, Strand, Ext. 2290, or P James,Biology, Kensington, Ext. 284, oralternatively please fill in the replyslip below.

FLATTOlEf

Primrose Hill - I minute Chalk Farm tube,S minutes Regent's Park. I double bed­room, large reception, fitted kitchen,bathroom/wc. Available 1st June 1987for six months. £ 120 per week inclusive.01-5867986 for details.

THE LISTE ER

A complete, unbound run of this periodi­cal from January 1982 to date is offeredfor a nominal charge. Please contact:Richard Overill, Computing Centre,Strand Campus.

COMMENT is produced by the King's Col­lege London (KQC) Information Office onthe Strand campus.

NEXT EDITION: Copy date Friday 12June for publication in the week of 22June.

TO: J RumbellStationery StoreStrand campusExt. 2290

OR: P JamesBiology DepartmentKensington campusExt. 284

ANNUAL COLLEGE OUTINGWednesday 5th August 1987

I would like to receive ticket(s) at £ 10 per head.

I enclose a cheque for £ .

Name ( in capitals) .

Signed .

Date .

Please return reply slips as soon as possible.

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