Nostalgia Interviews With Chris Deacy

Professor April McMahon is the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Education and Professor of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Kent, and it was a great pleasure to meet her for this week’s interview. April was born in Edinburgh while a Beatles concert was taking place nearby and she recounts at the start of our conversation how her father was defined more by his absence than his presence during her childhood. She speaks candidly about how there weren’t many opportunities open to her as a child and how her mother had to work ‘hand to mouth’. As a child, reading books from the library van was April’s passion. She also talks about being into the New Romantics, such as Ultravox, as well as Clare Grogan and Altered Images, and being a sucker for musicals. April sings to this day in the university chorus, and we learn whether April is a ‘Braveheart’ or a ‘Gregory’s Girl’ type of person. April recounts what inspired her to go to university and she talks about her false start, having initially chose