During the 10 years he spent at Hull University, Robert Benewick inspired not just his students, of whom I was one, but his fellow members of staff as well. The mystery is: how did a relatively small department of politics become home to so many academics – among them Bhikhu Parekh, Dennis Kavanagh, Michael Leifer, Trevor Smith, Robert Berki and Jeremy Noakes – who were to have a major impact on their discipline both nationally and internationally?
