From Bruce Denness
Andrew Sanderson recalls Henry Miller, professor of neurology at Newcastle University, observing that medical facts have a half-life of five years (Letters, 8 October). This took me back to 1975. Miller, by then vice-chancellor, chaired a panel of nine interviewing me for a professorship. Several minutes into a discourse, I found myself rambling. I couldn't remember what the question had been. Having no acceptable alternative, I admitted that I had forgotten what the subject was.
He raised an eyebrow, looked around the unresponsive panel and said: “So have we. I suppose we'd better appoint you to avoid embarrassing us all.”
Whitwell, Isle of Wight, UK
