his name forward and the subject matter was ideal for him. It would also make an excellent addition to his CV.
Ten days later, Mathew flew to Hanover, then travelled by train for the 110 km onward journey to Bielefeld. ‘Mathew Duncan?’ asked an earnest-looking young man waiting on the station platform. ‘That’s right,’ replied Mathew, putting his cases down to shake hands. ‘My name’s Michael Lamb, I’m a student of Professor Benirschke – he’s asked me to, you know,look after you and help you with things while you’re here. My car’s right outside, let me take you to your hotel.’
While Michael drove, he told Mathew a little more about himself. ‘I graduated from the University of Durham and went straight into the British Diplomatic Service. They sent me here to learn German – I’m doing a one-year crash course at Bielefeld.’
‘Is it working? A year is such a short time – I’ve always found German rather a tricky language.’
‘Oh, so do I, absolutely, but Professor Benirschke is an excellent teacher and actually living in Germany makes all the difference so I feel as though I’ve quite got the hang of it. In fact, they’ve asked me to translate the abstract of your paper so it can be circulated tomorrow morning, before the presentation.’
Michael dropped Mathew at his hotel, promising to pick him up in good time in the morning.
The next day, everything went according to plan and Mathew delivered what was a very engaging and well-received presentation. Michael had done an excellent job in translating the abstract and keywords of the paper, also carrying out some valuable interpretation during Mathew’s speech as there was no simultaneous translation. When Mathew had projected various mugshots of his gorilla study group, Michael had been able to emphasise how much Mathew had to depend upon his sketches and photographs of each individual’s nose-print for identification purposes. Just as George Schaller had recorded during his epic year studying the gorilla kingdom, whereas no two humans have exactly the same finger-prints, no two gorillas have the same ‘nose-print’ – the shape of their nostrils and the outstanding troughs on the bridges of their noses.
Over a much-needed cup of coffee after the presentation,Michael said, ‘I found it absolutely fascinating what you said about how gorillas interact with each other and how there’s often a family likeness in both looks and aspects of behaviour. I never would have considered it before – nor what you said about how their interaction could be relevant to human communication.’
‘I’m so glad to hear that, I hope you’re not the only one!’ Mathew laughed.
‘Oh I shouldn’t think so! I’ve also made a note of your point about not staring at gorillas directly when you’re making observations, that it can constitute a threat – as it can with humans. That may come in very useful.’ Michael reflected on how the study of such cognitive skills could well benefit his long-term ambition to work under cover for British Intelligence.
On Mathew’s return from Germany, he was delighted to hear from his elder brother in Belfast that he had arranged to take some leave in order to spend a week at Hartington Hall with him prior to his return to the USA. Mathew’s disciplined weekly work routine had resulted in having completed the analysis of his gorilla field notes and he was free to relax.
When it came to the weekend of the tennis party at Bardon Towers, Mathew was ready for the opportunity to unwind and meet up with a number of his old hunting and grouse-shooting friends, as well as to be introduced to a variety of the Drysdale’s rather eccentric house guests. On such occasions it was mandatory for all participants to wear immaculate white tennis gear, more often than not enhanced by tennis or cricket club sweaters.
The provision of ice-cold jugs of Pimms, platefuls of smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches, scones with
Ten days later, Mathew flew to Hanover, then travelled by train for the 110 km onward journey to Bielefeld. ‘Mathew Duncan?’ asked an earnest-looking young man waiting on the station platform. ‘That’s right,’ replied Mathew, putting his cases down to shake hands. ‘My name’s Michael Lamb, I’m a student of Professor Benirschke – he’s asked me to, you know,look after you and help you with things while you’re here. My car’s right outside, let me take you to your hotel.’
While Michael drove, he told Mathew a little more about himself. ‘I graduated from the University of Durham and went straight into the British Diplomatic Service. They sent me here to learn German – I’m doing a one-year crash course at Bielefeld.’
‘Is it working? A year is such a short time – I’ve always found German rather a tricky language.’
‘Oh, so do I, absolutely, but Professor Benirschke is an excellent teacher and actually living in Germany makes all the difference so I feel as though I’ve quite got the hang of it. In fact, they’ve asked me to translate the abstract of your paper so it can be circulated tomorrow morning, before the presentation.’
Michael dropped Mathew at his hotel, promising to pick him up in good time in the morning.
The next day, everything went according to plan and Mathew delivered what was a very engaging and well-received presentation. Michael had done an excellent job in translating the abstract and keywords of the paper, also carrying out some valuable interpretation during Mathew’s speech as there was no simultaneous translation. When Mathew had projected various mugshots of his gorilla study group, Michael had been able to emphasise how much Mathew had to depend upon his sketches and photographs of each individual’s nose-print for identification purposes. Just as George Schaller had recorded during his epic year studying the gorilla kingdom, whereas no two humans have exactly the same finger-prints, no two gorillas have the same ‘nose-print’ – the shape of their nostrils and the outstanding troughs on the bridges of their noses.
Over a much-needed cup of coffee after the presentation,Michael said, ‘I found it absolutely fascinating what you said about how gorillas interact with each other and how there’s often a family likeness in both looks and aspects of behaviour. I never would have considered it before – nor what you said about how their interaction could be relevant to human communication.’
‘I’m so glad to hear that, I hope you’re not the only one!’ Mathew laughed.
‘Oh I shouldn’t think so! I’ve also made a note of your point about not staring at gorillas directly when you’re making observations, that it can constitute a threat – as it can with humans. That may come in very useful.’ Michael reflected on how the study of such cognitive skills could well benefit his long-term ambition to work under cover for British Intelligence.
On Mathew’s return from Germany, he was delighted to hear from his elder brother in Belfast that he had arranged to take some leave in order to spend a week at Hartington Hall with him prior to his return to the USA. Mathew’s disciplined weekly work routine had resulted in having completed the analysis of his gorilla field notes and he was free to relax.
When it came to the weekend of the tennis party at Bardon Towers, Mathew was ready for the opportunity to unwind and meet up with a number of his old hunting and grouse-shooting friends, as well as to be introduced to a variety of the Drysdale’s rather eccentric house guests. On such occasions it was mandatory for all participants to wear immaculate white tennis gear, more often than not enhanced by tennis or cricket club sweaters.
The provision of ice-cold jugs of Pimms, platefuls of smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches, scones with
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