Chris Kington - 'the spark'

In late 2019, I met up with GA President for 2002: Chris Kington at an early screening of the film 'The Lighthouse' in Cambridge.

He told me about something that he had done when he was GA President to prepare for his Presidential lecture.
He had asked former GA Presidents, and also long-standing GA members to tell him when they first got the 'spark' that meant they pursued geography rather than other subjects, and moved into academic or other roles with a geographical theme. In early 2020, Chris gave me a series of letters: some tpyed, some word-processed and some hand-written. I was going to give them back to him, but then the first lockdown occurred and I haven't had a chance since.

I've added elements of those letters into the relevant biographies of several GA Presidents, and have another 10 or so to add in as we get nearer to the present day. Some of them are for Presidents who have not had their biography added yet. They are all really interesting letters and hugely variable. There are many references to particular teachers or university lecturers (including other former Presidents in some cases) and one can see the influences on these people who later became GA President in due course.

They include a copy of a letter sent by David Attenborough from his desk at the BBC in reply to a letter by Mike Morrish, who was the previous post on the blog, and the latest President to be added.
I've added some of these contributions to earlier blog posts, particularly when they are relevant...

Image: part of the letter sent by W.G.V. Balchin: author of the GA's Centenary book (1893-1993) and GA President in 1971.