Thirty-eight years of faithful service!

This afternoon, in a relaxed and festive atmosphere, the Committee welcomed new staff members who have recently joined and bade farewell to a number of colleagues who have retired or are about to. The President was unfortunately unable to attend and so I played both his role and my own, making the speeches and handing out the commemorative diplomas and gifts. It was a genuine pleasure. I keep going on about the wealth of talent in our administration and such occasions provide glimpses of the rich hinterlands of so many of our staff. First on my list was Susanne Relvas-Schmidt, who has faithfully served the Committee since 1972 – that’s 38 years of service! It’s always invidious to single out individuals, but I’ll just name two to give a taste. Annie Madsen, was an Olympic fencer, and Miguel Paredes, our outgoing Head of Spanish Translation, translated such authors as Isaac Asimov before joining the Committee and – wait for it – Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity!