Piece of Another Period
Four sons and a Cambridge childhood
Published on 7. August 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
258 pages
978-1-83615-163-0 (ISBN)
Description
Dixon and Amelie Boyd were Belfast medical students. Later he was a Cambridge Professor and she an Academic's wife. They and their four sons, became a Cambridge mid-century fixture. Their copious letters (and memories of those sons, the authors) bring to light an unvarnished picture of that University at a time of dramatic change.
Darlingest, It not only seems but it was a long time ago. We were half our present ages; the war was no more than a shadow of a man's hand in bright sunlight - possible but not very probable... In a wider field no atomic power or bombs; no television; unemployment and a servant class; no penicillin; no Russian imperialism and a well-established British Empire. We had not even dreamed of Cambridge, let alone three periods of residence and a Chair and Clare.
Dixon Boyd to his wife on their 25th wedding anniversary 19 August 1958
On the Margins of War
Jews, Blacks and Irish
Sex and Psychoanalysis
Who knew Who
Scholarship, Science and Preferment
Clare College as Family
This volume tells us what they then thought and how they then acted.
Darlingest, It not only seems but it was a long time ago. We were half our present ages; the war was no more than a shadow of a man's hand in bright sunlight - possible but not very probable... In a wider field no atomic power or bombs; no television; unemployment and a servant class; no penicillin; no Russian imperialism and a well-established British Empire. We had not even dreamed of Cambridge, let alone three periods of residence and a Chair and Clare.
Dixon Boyd to his wife on their 25th wedding anniversary 19 August 1958
On the Margins of War
Jews, Blacks and Irish
Sex and Psychoanalysis
Who knew Who
Scholarship, Science and Preferment
Clare College as Family
This volume tells us what they then thought and how they then acted.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Claygate
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
424 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83615-163-0 (9781836151630)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Richard Boyd | Boyd Stephen | Robert Boyd
Piece of Another Period
Four sons and a Cambridge childhood
E-Book
08/2025
Grosvenor House Publishing
€9.59
Available for download
Persons
Richard, Stephen, Robert and John Boyd were brought up in Cambridge. All except Richard were Clare College undergraduates.
Richard: Went to Merton College and became an Oxford Physiologist. He served as Chair of the Physiological Society and is now a retired fellow of Brasenose College Oxford.
Stephen: A lexicographer became Professor at Osaka University and co-editor of the Kenkyusha Anglo-Japanese dictionary. He lives in Osaka.
Robert: A paediatrician became Principal of St George's University of London and Chair of the UK Medical Schools' Council. He is emeritus professor of the University of Manchester where he lives.
John: A diplomat became Ambassador to Japan then Master of Churchill College and Chair of the Trustees of the British Museum. He was an honorary Fellow of Clare College until his death in 2019.
Richard: Went to Merton College and became an Oxford Physiologist. He served as Chair of the Physiological Society and is now a retired fellow of Brasenose College Oxford.
Stephen: A lexicographer became Professor at Osaka University and co-editor of the Kenkyusha Anglo-Japanese dictionary. He lives in Osaka.
Robert: A paediatrician became Principal of St George's University of London and Chair of the UK Medical Schools' Council. He is emeritus professor of the University of Manchester where he lives.
John: A diplomat became Ambassador to Japan then Master of Churchill College and Chair of the Trustees of the British Museum. He was an honorary Fellow of Clare College until his death in 2019.