I mean, it's a big deal to get an alumni award from the place where you've studied for such a long period.
To be honest, I didn't really think about awards or anything else. I just think of Lancaster as the place where I grew up, really, and where I studied.
So, to get an award for being part of Lancaster feels a bit weird, really, because I just always felt part of the of the University anyway, but, a very nice feeling and I'm over the moon.
Well, I was here in the very early nineties, or actually, in the very late eighties is when I started. So I still keep pinching myself that it's more than 30 - A lot more than 30 years ago, I first came here. And so it's very strange to be away for so long. It's a good 20 odd years since I was last here and the University has changed so much. It's double the size, there’s new buildings. So it feels great. And I see patches that I totally recognise and then I also see brand new pieces as well. But the thing that's blown me away the most is, that the campus itself feels the same.
You know, we're here right now. It's sort of the middle of December, and that always had a certain vibe. It was towards the end of the term and you get these cold nights and instantly I got back here, I could feel that and I remember it distinctly.
So yeah, a very nice feeling to be back in a place after a very long time away.
I mean, I've got to be honest, although this is an alumni award and it's a very big deal. I mean, I, you know, I spent most of my time at Lancaster doing really just two things. I mean, I spent a lot of time in the JCR, particularly at Grizedale, drinking beer and playing pool, and I played on the football team and that was kind of what I did. Obviously, aside from studying Marketing. So for me, those two things were just exceptional.
I mean, it was it was a dreamy place, really. I got to study Marketing at one of the best Marketing departments in the world. I had ten mates who all played in the same soccer team as me. We lived right next door to our JCR, which had a bar, and I just don't think it was possible to have a better, you know, early twenties, mid-twenties.
It was heaven.
And, you know, I've got very young kids, but when they get a bit older, I will just tell them to come here if they can. Because it was it was literally I can't use the word any stronger than saying it was perfect.
Very interesting, the Lancaster impact, and you only realise it later on. You assume every university is the same. And when I left Lancaster, I ended up, you know, places like London Business School and M.I.T. and Melbourne, and you begin to realise how special Lancaster is and what it gives you. And I think what it gave me was enormous independence. We were very encouraged, both undergraduate and PhD level to, do our own thing.
I mean, I even had, you know, modules in Independent Studies as part of my undergraduate degree and in my PhD, my advisor, Richard, you know, encouraged me to do it my way. And I think that's the big legacy I took from Lancaster, was it really encouraged you to do your own thing and to do it your way. And I don't think that's necessarily the case, at every university. And so it made me you know, I was already a bit idiosyncratic, but it made me very, very comfortable in doing it my own way. And I think that's a great gift that Lancaster gave me.
I think the interesting thing, I talked about it today at graduation, you don't realise how good Lancaster is until you're a long way away from it. And I think there's a couple of reasons for that. It's a very sort of Northern Lancastrian thing to be really good at something, but not go on about it too much. And also you kind of just take for granted how well-organised the place is, how brilliant the buildings are, how well thought through the learning philosophy is, how selective they are - of students and professors. Ironically, it's only when you go to other universities for many, many, many other years that you start to go, oh, hang on.
You know, in my case, you know, I studied Marketing. I just assumed every Marketing degree had 15 different electives to choose from. And I've never been to a school since that had that range or quality. So I think the great thing about Lancaster is it's so brilliantly done, but it's done in such a subtle way.
You don't realise how good it is until many years later. You don't find another university that's half as good. And I think again, for that reason, I'm very grateful that I ended up here and I couldn't really have asked for any more.
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