Did you embark on a PhD because you anticipated an academic career?

Ooh, I think I had kind of multiple reasons why I took a PhD. One was because somebody put it in my head that it would be a good idea to do one and that was obviously during my MA. Maybe even back before that, as an undergraduate, kind of admiring certain people who taught you as an undergraduate, thinking 'I'd quite like to do that.' But it became a more concrete idea once you're a graduate student I think, in a department that has other postgraduates and people who are further on than you are. Actually, seeing PhD students when you're an MA student, I think you then see the possibilities that might unfold. And as it was I, after the one year MA or during that one year MA when I was approached by a very kind of avuncular professor of the department who asked me if I would be interested in doing a PhD and that he would see if I was interested in doing some teaching of, you know, undergraduate tutorials. So there was clearly a system within the culture for holding on to postgraduate students and bringing them onto PhDs.