My room (mate)

By David Candlin for Chris Alty

Chris and I first met in Malta during National Service in 1955. At one of the many social occasions in the squadron we discovered that we were both due to go up to Queens’ in October 1956 and read Mechanical Sciences.

On arrival at the College we agreed to share joint supervision with the Director of Engineering Studies, one Archie Brown. We soon found this was an almost impossible situation as Archie had taken Tripos as long ago as 1912 and had ceased to have any position in the Engineering School. He seemed unable to throw any light on the subjects dealt with by our lectures and we were left alone much to our own devices. Eventually over our three years we received somewhat piecemeal supervision from various research students, which was far from satisfactory. However, Chris in his own determined effort wrote up notes each day for the lectures and was kind enough to let other engineering members consult them.