1990s Sir William McCrea FRS

 

A doctor’s waiting room, the 1990s.  A very elderly gentleman, small and stooped but nonetheless well presented, enters and makes his way to reception. What’s your name? says the large receptionist in that loud voice designed for the elderly deaf. McCrea, replies a very soft voice. First name? - the receptionist is studying her list. Very softly, barely audible but I hear it: Sir William. Without looking up, Take a seat William.

I’m no enthusiast for titles, but I want to call out, He’s Sir William McCrea and a very distinguished man! And he was: Sir Willam McCrea FRS, astronomer and mathematician, 1904-1999.  I had never spoken to him, knew him only by sight, had probably read of his achievements in some university bulletin. It was not so much his distinction that mattered to me, but the fact that he was still an adult, compos mentis, someone who still caught the bus to his office on campus. He had used his title, perhaps as a prop against his own frailty - who knows - and there was no reason to deny him. Of course, the receptionist may simply not have heard or registered the title; it’s not every day that someone walks in and claims to be Sir William. But I hear it from the other side of the room.