Nostalgia Interviews With Chris Deacy

My guest this week is Paul Hedges, Associate Professor in Interreligious Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore. Paul and I were contemporaries in the University of Wales and we learn about how Lampeter made him the academic and person that he is today. We learn about the days when computers weren’t used for writing essays, when students would pay someone to type up their dissertations for them, and the library had a card catalogue. Paul tells us about the time he once derived his inspiration for writing an essay from a strong bottle of cider. The whole Lampeter experience was like a bubble, quite different from the rest of the world. Paul reflects on what it has been like to go back on the other side of the fence, as it were, and he recalls the chance in Lampeter to explore the countryside. He talks about his lower middle class upbringing and how he would play Dungeons & Dragons back in the days when it wasn’t cool to be nerdy