“SIR,” SAID THE PROFESSOR

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30215, 21 August 1963, Page 17

“SIR,” SAID THE PROFESSOR

Another Story Of Quiller-Couch Mention of the custom of A. P. Quiller-Couch, professor of poetry at Cambridge, of addressing his students as "Gentlemen . . .” no matter how many women students were in his classes, to show that in his opinion women at Cambridge simply did not exist, has called to mind to a reader of "The Press" another anecdote about QuillerCouch.

The reference to QuillerCouch's attitude to women students was made by Professor Arnold Wall in “The Press" of Saturday in his series, “The Jeweller’s Window.”

"It seems that a plot was laid by female students to embarrass the famous man, in his usual opening courtesy, by ensuring that his lecture was attended on- a chosen occasion only by women,” the reader writes. “In this scheme, the ladies were nearly wholly successful, for the only man student who got in was one who actually came in with the professor and who, therefore, could hardly be prevented from entering. “Glancing over the top of his notes, ‘Q’ was astonished to see row upon row of women and, for a moment, was put right off his balance.

“The cloud that had settled over his face lifted, however, when he spotted the only man in his audience, the same who had come In with him. "Ignoring the ladies. Quiller-Couch addressed the young man pointedly and began his lecture: ‘Sir,’ he said, 'my subject for today is. .. .’ ”