Most scientists and engineers associate the name of George Batchelor first with the founding and firm editorship of this Journal, then perhaps with the authorship of two widely influential books. Over the years, a considerable number have, as visitors to the Department in Cambridge which he founded and headed for twenty years, had the opportunity for scientific discussion with him, but a much larger number have had their work greatly influenced by the activities of ‘Euromech’, in which GKB was heavily involved from the start in 1964.