Reference...
Chairman
12. We could, between us, think of no obvious candidate for the post of chairman. Among the academic candidates, Professor Kenneth Robinson was a possible. There was nobody really suitable from the IDS who would be available. Mr Selwyn thought that the Director of the Institute, Dr Richard Jolly, although he would be interested in the seminar, would probably not want to participate throughout. We thought the best plan would probably be to bring in a retired Governor, or perhaps appoint a chairman from the official side. Mr Selwyn did in fact question whether it was necessary to have an overall chairman, rather than simply appoint a separate chairman for each session. But the rest of us thought that, although having a single chairman meant landing one person with quite a lot of work, on the whole it was better than having a succession of different chairmen.
Administrative arrangements
13. Miss Clyne pointed out that we had still not informed the Institute in writing that we wanted the seminar to go ahead. I agreed that I would arrange for this to be rectified. Before the Institute can go ahead, the seminar needs to be approved by their Board, but she saw no great problem about this. I asked her whether the Institute would be prepared to co-sponsor the seminar to the extent of providing the conference facilities free of charge. She said that they would certainly be prepared to consider this if we would like to make a formal suggestion.
WE Quantrill
8 March 1979