The death was recently announced of Dr. Keith Thomas who for many years taught students of planning at Oxford Brookes University.
The death was recently announced of Dr. Keith Thomas who for many years taught students of planning at Oxford Brookes University.
Before moving to Oxford in the mid-1970s, Keith was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Town and Country Planning at Heriot-Watt University / Edinburgh College of Art. That was where I was privileged to meet him when I began my own teaching career there in September 1969.
The Department then was squeezed into Edinburgh West End townhouse, and I shared a room with Keith in a garret at the top. In those days new lecturers were not taught how to teach before being unleashed to bore their students. My contract started a week before term began. Luckily, Keith mentored me. He had a teaching qualification and had previously taught in further education.
Just being in the room with him enabled me to see how he handled supervisions or academic administration, for example, or dealt with the range of student-related issues that came his way.
After a Statistics course taught by the Maths Department proved incomprehensible to our undergraduates, Keith and I put togther a more student-friendly and planning-related replacement that we taught together until Keith went to Oxford.
It was Keith who wrote a Guide for students on how to approach dissertation research and writing. It was clear, packed with good advice, and remained the basis of the document given to final year undergraduates and post-graduates for many years.
Keith and his wife Tonie were also very kind to me personally. In my early days I was commuting from East Kilbride, and so on nights when classes did not end until 9pm I was invited to stay overnight with them and their young girls rather than travel back across the Central Belt in the Scottish winters.
In 1973/74 we had a year without a Head of Department / Professor, so the Department was managed by the three Senior Lecturers – Keith, Ferrie Wood and myself. Again Keith’s clarity of thought and support for staff and students were to the fore. He had a sharp intellect and a lively sense of humour.
Keith mainly taught urban and regional economics, but he had a strong interest in development control as the ‘bread and butter’ of the job of most planners. Keith grasped that few planning schools in those days taught development control. It featured in Planning Law courses, of course, but such teaching as usually delivered by lawyers on a part-time basis. There was nobody full-time in the schools and with DC experience as a planner. It was Keith who led to us appointing a vastly experienced planning practitioner to fill precisely that gap in 1975.
Keith’s interest would eventually be turned into a book. Development Control – Principles and Practice was published in 1997 by the UCL Press. It was rightly described as the “first comprehensive text” on the subject. As ever, Keith searched far and in depth for evidence and drew together the implications of a wide range of academic literature, while presenting it in a critical and accessible way.
Noting that sustainability had been at the heart of the 1947 planning system, but had “taken on a new dimension” in the 1990s, he pointed out that development control was not explicitly mentioned in the House of Lords Select Committee report on Sustainability – or even in the RTPI’s evidence to that Committee.
Meeting recently with some former students confirmed the high regard they had for Keith. Personally, my debt to him is huge. How different my career might have been if, back in 1969, I’d had to share a room with somebody who did not welcome a brash newcomer taking over half of their cramped room, or was not the dedicated role model and support that Keith was.
PETER HERBERT ADDS HIS OWN MEMORIES
I have fond memories of Keith Thomas as both a person and a lecturer. The undergraduate year group of which I was a member (1967 – 1972) was not noted for its attention span or academic leanings. Boredom was no stranger, and mischief never far away. But Keith held both our attention and respect.
He had infinite patience, and a way of conveying economic concepts that was so clear, and often amusing, that they are remembered fifty years later.
Here are a few:
Marginal Utility: ‘Rather like my old bike, invaluable to me but of no wider value.’
Statistics: ‘In common with street lamps, they are useful to lean on but cast little light on anything’.
Out of date figures: ‘About as useful of last year’s Bradshaw’.
I’m sure all who knew him, and particularly those he taught, will always think kindly of Keith, and be grateful for his path having crossed their’s.
JOHN PAYNE ADDS HIS TRIBUTE
Keith guided me through my final year’s dissertations. The subjects were not riveting, industrial location theory was one, and I was not especially academically inclined. Keith, however, always managed the supervision sessions with helpfulness and enthusiasm. He played no small part in getting me through the work.
FROM JIM AND WANDA KAUCZ
As Pete and John have shared, we remember him for his wit and quirky expressions.
Certain expressions are now deeply engrained in us. Recently we have been watching Michael Portillo’s Great British Railway Journeys and his reference to Bradshaw’s Railway Guide immediately reminded us of dear old Keith Thomas.
Vale Keith Thomas!
FROM KELVIN MACDONALD
He was an inspirational teacher – the best sort in a way, quiet and patient as others have said but nevertheless managing to impart what he was saying in a way that made it memorable.
FROM ALAN PRIOR
Keith taught me economics, and was one of my research supervisors in final year. He made economics interesting (no small feat) and his handouts were always thorough and informative. As a supervisor his criticism was always constructive and encouraging. He was straightforward, approachable and down to earth. His textbook on development control was groundbreaking.
FROM INGER HAUG
He was such an excellent person-and great lecturer. I have referred to his “and why should a planner know about this?” sentence that often ended his lectures. And I liked his weekly clear cut essays. I can still recall some of them.
FROM ROMAN WINKLER
I join with all from the class of ’72 who will remember Keith with respect. I wouldn’t be surprised if he privately thought we were a bunch of immature twits, but he managed to get enough of the relevant stuff into our brains to get us through the exams with a bit of humour which Pete so memorably recalled.
FROM CHRIS STRANG
Agree with all that except his lectures started at 9.00 am on a Monday morning…..?
WANDA KAUCZ ADDS…
(As the only woman in the year group) I was often the subject of “fun” from my fellow students. I know that in these days such behaviour would not be acceptable.
However , I experienced the care and concern extended by Professor Travis and Dr Keith Thomas who were always there for me, and encouraged me to stay on the course despite my tears and frustration, because they knew that planning was what I wanted.
As you know, Jim and I have celebrated our Golden Wedding Anniversary. Things clearly worked out!
FROM PROFESSOR STEPHEN WARD
Keith contributed a lot to the department/school of planning and was always supportive and practical. I remember him giving me sound advice about how to negotiate more successfully the surprisingly large advancement interview panels that we used to have to face for even quite modest promotions. Even earlier,I remember also going to a bleak and snowbound Edinburgh led by Keith in March 1980, with Pete Stanley, shortly after we both arrived. Most of all, though, I recall how struck I was by the courage and stoicism Keith showed after the tragic death of their younger daughter in a road traffic accident, while she was cycling home from school, something that can only have been beyond all normal endurance. I think it must have been a testimony to his/their religious faith that Keith and Tonie were able to cope and carry on after such a dreadful event. Although he rarely spoke about his Christianity, I think their faith was something that was deeply important to both of them.
FROM PROFESSOR ROGER ZETTER
Colleagues have captured so many of Keith’s special attributes but I would add a comment about Keith’s total dedication to students and their welfare. He knew all the students by name and usually how they were performing on the course – no mean feat given the size of the BA. He was incredibly patient and generous in his support for them. He always had time for them, and always gave them encouragement. It’s another example of his complete selflessness and it is no surprise that he asked for donations to the student hardship/welfare fund.
