Acknowledgements
This volume – and the 2016 lecture series organised by the University of Cambridge's Darwin College that it is based on – owe a great many debts to a great many people. First and foremost, Janet Gibson (College Registrar at Darwin) is the person who makes everything work: from event logistics to document management, from flagging deadlines to chasing drafts, none of it would have happened without Janet. We are therefore immensely grateful to her, as are all at Darwin whose academic endeavours she has helped over the years – which basically means every fellow and student of the College since she started in 2007.
Espen Koht also deserves a special mention. As Darwin's IT Manager, Espen was instrumental in ensuring that the series was advertised via every available channel, that speakers’ audio-visual requirements were met, that the lectures themselves were filmed to a high standard and subsequently made available for download, and that countless other behind-the-scenes tech-support functions were discharged to an exemplary standard.
The senior leadership of the College were invaluable supporters of the series and, therefore, this volume too. The current Master, Mary Fowler, backed the project to the hilt, as well as hosting and introducing our distinguished contributors at a level befitting their professional standing. And Mary's predecessor, Willy Brown, also played an active supporting role: not only did he bring both of us to Darwin as fellows during his tenure, a singular honour in itself, but also he continued to help in numerous seen and unseen ways, including via the hosting/introducing of speakers when the current Master was travelling. Andy Fabian, meanwhile – as Chair of the College's Education and Research Committee and inaugurator of the first annual thematic lecture series at Darwin back in 1986 – was a backer and supportive presence throughout.
Numerous other staff and students of the College and University helped with the organisation of the series in an array of capacities – lecture ushers, student hosts, camera crew, facilities support, and more besides. Our sincere thanks therefore go to Stephanie Ashenden, Sue Beckwith (and team), Cavan Bennett, Katia Bowers, Jamie Brittain, Michelle Cain, Darragh Coffey, Tony Cox, Erin Cullen, Amélie Deblauwe, Joe Delaney, John Dix, Matthew Edwards, Chiara Giorio, Angela Goncalves, Michael Gormer, Stefan Graf, Alex Grzankowski, Meredith Hadfield, Hatem Hatem, Ivan Higney (and team), Katja Hofmann, Andy Howells, Angela Ibler, Dan Jones, Markus Kalberer, Marion Kieffer, Nicolas Köhler, Torsten Krude, Noelle L'Hommedieu, Tiancheng Li, Inès Lion, Paula MacGregor, Emile Marin, Hannah McCarthy, Ian McConnell, Tim Milner, Russell Norman, Michael O'Neill, Stephen Owen, Nitzan Peri-Rotem, Jamie Pilmer, James Poskett, Nebojša Radic´, Sam Roberts, Florian Roessler, Derek Scott (and team), Utkarsh Sharma, K. C. Sivaramakrishnan, Shahin Tavakoli, Matt Turpie (and team), Jenneke van der Wal, Jackie Walpole, Ben Watkinson-Powell, Julius Weitzdörfer, Chester White, Roger Whitehead, Joseph Wu, and Amani Zalzali. Our sincere apologies to anyone who has escaped our list (or whose name we have misspelt!). We also thank Steven Holt for his thorough copyediting, Christopher Davis for his swift indexing, and Geetha Williams’ team at MPS for their attentive production.
The team at Cambridge University Press have been a supportive, constructive, and – most crucially – patient source of assistance throughout the editing process. We therefore thank Clare Dennison, Thomas Harris, Esther Miguéliz Obanos, Lucy Rhymer, and all CUP colleagues for their forbearance: we are glad to be able to reward it by eventually delivering this assemblage of fascinating essays by eminent authors.
Both editors thank their families for all the support that brought them to the point of being in the privileged position of convening a distinguished guest lecture series at the University of Cambridge. David Blagden also particularly thanks Helena Mills for editorial assistance and critical feedback on several chapters, as well as Michael Clark, Samantha Nicholls, and Patrick Porter for facilitating – in various ways – a weekly commute between Exeter and Cambridge during the time of the series itself.
Finally, we thank the chapter contributors themselves. All are distinguished professionals with unique expertise and demanding schedules, so we are grateful to them for investing time and effort both in the original lectures and in the subsequent book chapters. One of them is singled out for particular recognition, however, as you will see from this book's dedication and introduction.
