Christopher Bayly, the Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History, Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Director of the Centre of South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge, author of several books including the seminal Empire and Information: Intelligence gathering and social communication in India 1780-1870 (1996), a doyen of the Cambridge School of historiography, is now a Knight Bachelor for services to History [pdf].
I met him in Cambridge this past September and found him to be utterly nice and generous. He refused to say in public, or in private, how much my paper had sucked. For which I remain grateful. I know a number of his students who all sing his praises for his dedication to their careers and the efforts he expends on their behalf – high praise indeed.
In his comments he stated: “I regard this not only as a great personal honour but, as an historian of India, as recognition of the growing importance of the history of the non-western world.”
Hear, hear! Also, some other writer got Knighted too and people in homistan are kinda pissed about it. So, what’s new? Let’s celebrate History and historians instead. Congratulations to Sir Bayly. [HT to Arvind]
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Pissed? Please. We should be so lucky. If it were about the quality of his work, I’d be up for the rage, but the topical focus is just frustrating beyond belief.
I still owe you a post on hijras don’t I?