C S Lewis - 1

On Friday 2 December I paid an official visit to The Queen's University of Belfast where I was received by Dr John Stannard. One of the highlights of the tour was a visit to the magnificent Great Hall. The hall was laid out ready for a banquet, presumably in my honour. I had my speech all ready.



Queen's University Belfast is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The university's official title, per its charter, is the Queen's University of Belfast. It is often referred to simply as Queen's, or by the abbreviation QUB. The university was chartered in 1845, and opened in 1849 as "Queen's College, Belfast", but has roots going back to 1810 and the Royal Belfast Academical Institution.

Queen's is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association, Universities Ireland and Universities UK. The university offers academic degrees at various levels and across a broad subject range, with over 300 degree programmes available. The university's current President and Vice-Chancellor is Professor Sir Peter Gregson, and its Chancellor is the current Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations, Kamalesh Sharma.

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the death of my Father, Ronnie Simpson. When my Mother came to my Primary School to tell me the sad news, my first words were 'Oh dear! Will we still be able to have a turkey for Christmas dinner?' Fortunately my Father had a sense of humour, so our reunion in heaven should not be too embarrassing!

I am pleased to record that I was served turkey for my dinner both on 25 December 1961 and on 2 December 2011.