Nineteen Eighty-Four and All That

Abstract

In his Presidential Address in 1976 Mr R. E. Fischbacher suggested that making such an oral presentation was perhaps a custom that had outlived its usefulness and that a written communication in the Journal might well be more appropriate today. This proposition has since been debated by the Officers of the Institute on several occasions. The view has emerged that it is still appropriate to maintain the practice of oral presentation and that the occasion should be more rather than less formalised. The recent practice of locating the event in a Local Section has not been wholly successful so it is now proposed to revert to having an Address each year in London and to direct this to all audience largely invited for the occasion. In 1978 Mr Lucas will deliver his Address in the Royal Institution in April and we hope that that venue and that time of year will initiate a pattern for the future in which the Address and the Thomson Lecture are established as the major events in the Institution's year. It is intended that the President should not be constrained in his choice of topic but should, as heretofore, be free to choose any subject technical or not that he thinks appropriate to his own interests and those of his prospective audience. 1977 was well advanced before this procedure was agreed so this meeting is to be seen as a transition from the old scheme to the new. I have choscn the title