Electronic Precinct - December 1998

Portrait Unveiled

(l to r) The Vice-Chancellor, Mrs Rosalind Christian, Lord Owen and Stephen Oliver

A portrait of the late Sir Alastair Pilkington was unveiled at the meeting of Court, in November, 1998.

The portrait of Sir Alastair, Chancellor of the University from 1994- 95, was unveiled by the present Chancellor, Lord Owen, in the presence of Mrs Rosalind Christian, Sir Alastair's daughter, and members of her family.

Lord Owen said that Sir Alastair, 'scientist, inventor and educationalist', had been able to serve as Chancellor for little more than a year, and his death had deprived the University of a unique range of talents.

Mrs Christian said that it gave her family great pleasure to see the portrait of her father in the University, adding that Sir Alastair himself, because he was a surprisingly modest man, would have seen it with a mixture of pride and embarrassment. 'This University helped my father feel that he still had something to offer, right up to his death. You gave him a future to believe in. Thank you Liverpool University, for giving my father the honour of being your Chancellor,' she said. The portrait was painted by Stephen Oliver It will hang in the Tate Hall, in the Victoria Building, with portraits of other former Chancellors and senior members of the University.