Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 March 2011
After expressing his appreciation of the honour of an invitation to be the principal guest at the Annual Ceremony and his pleasure at being able to speak under the distinguished chairmanship of Lord Scarbrough, Sir George Sansom said:—
My only qualification for addressing this learned assembly is a claim to be one of the few survivors of a vanishing race, or perhaps it would be better to say a small fossilized remnant of that race.
* This address was delivered by the late Sir George Sansom at the Annual Ceremony of the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1956. It is reprinted here upon the recommendation of several of Sir George's academic friends who felt it to be interesting, instructive and delightful and believed it deserved a new audience. Permission to reprint this address has been granted by the School of Oriental and African Studies.