Dear Norman,
I send my best wishes for your birthday celebrations.
I have known you now for nigh on 50 years and I value our friendship over all those years.
I am eternally grateful to you for two things that you have given me. First, you nominated me as your successor as Faculty Tutor at UCL. In that role, I followed, I hope, in your footsteps by encouraging the admission to medicine of the best students, irrespective of their social status or schooling. You were light-years ahead of current thinking on this issue. That opportunity was to set the scene for my career at UCL. Second, you gave me the opportunity to teach the medical students at UTAS. This was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Why? It was a small medical school by current standards but one which took great care of its students. They responded with their enthusiasm for learning. What a wonderful bunch they were! I recall one day that I had to cancel an afternoon tutorial. Their response was to suggest I did the tutorial at 8am the following day. One of the students even picked me up from my accommodation and drove me to the tutorial!
Thank you to for bringing me to Tas. It is one of the most beautiful places on the planet and I am privileged to have spent so much time there. The hospitality that you and Kate afforded me on my visits was astounding.
Norman, you have always courted controversy. In my view, rightly so by irritating the ‘establishment’ who have lost sight of the real nature of what a university should be. I hope you will look back with pride in what you have achieved. You should!
With my warmest regards.
John Foreman