The three editors are all Oxford MML graduates– Emma Herdman (now Lecturer in French at St Andrews; studied classics and modern languages at Keble, and Richard then supervised her DPhil); Lucy Rayfield (now working in the Education Department of the civil service, after a DPhil in French and Italian, co-supervised by Richard and Martin McLaughlin); Valerie Worth (modern languages, Brasenose, 1975-78; taught by Richard in her final year and his first year at Oxford; Richard was then the examiner for her DPhil).

The twelve contributors to the volume – eight from the UK, four from France – include more present and former colleagues from Oxford (Martin McLaughlin, Neil Kenny, Matthew Salisbury, Jenifer Rushworth, and Jennifer Oliver), and Hugh Roberts (now Professor of French at Exeter whose BA in modern languages and philosophy was at Oxford). The other colleagues from the UK and France illustrate the wide reach of Richard’s collaborations and the esteem and affection in which he is held.