Imperial legend Richardson retires

One of Imperial's most popular and respected senior academics, Professor Stephen Richardson, retires after 40 years at the College. You were awarded a CBE this year for 'services to chemical engineering education and safety'. When was the investiture and how did it go? It was on 17 July at Windsor Castle; the weather was nice and it was a delightful occasion. It was Her Majesty the Queen who conducted the investiture and she was excellent. To stand and talk to awardees for over an hour at the age of 89 years is really quite admirable. There is a huge diversity of people there for very different reasons, and she looked genuinely interested in all of them - even me! And I really don't think you could feign it for that long. As many people know, I don't always get tongue-tied but I certainly did when it came to my turn.