E.F.Jacob, the late-medieval historian

I am afraid that my acquaintance with medieval historians in general and late-medieval historians in particular has always been very limited. I was taught for  a term in St John's College, Oxford by Howard Colvin but, apart from that, John Armstrong was the only other medievalist I met. There was, however, one exception. On a train journey from Paddington station in London to Oxford, probably in 1964, I was in a carriage in which, by chance, E.F.Jacob was also travelling with a number of other passengers. Quite how we got talking I cannot recall. But I do remember that, when I told him that I hoped to pursue a career as an academic historian, he told me that many of those who chose to do so regretted having done so by the time that they had reached thirty years of age. I was very surprised to hear this but not deterred. 

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