Sandy Cunningham, 1928-2015

I’ve never met anyone quite like him. A great influence and inspiration to me and many of my generation at York in the late sixties.

For some reason I've just recalled Sandy Cunningham and dusted his wry, pithy Powers That Be paperback off the shelf. I wrote an essay on Dylan Thomas in 1970 in a bid to change course at York from social science to English; Sandy gently advised me not to give up the day job, but I continued to sneak into his lectures because they enchanted me in a way sociology couldn't (apologies, Prof Laurie Taylor & co). I didn't enjoy my time at York, but Sandy was a beacon.

A lovely, thoughtful man, with great insight into his specialism. He was certainly idiosyncratic, but charmingly so! It’s many years since I spoke with him, but the thought and memory of him has stayed with me.