Like the legendary peplum heroes of old, I bravely embarked on a noble six-year quest to become a Doctor in Film History. Some scoffed at the thought. Some said it couldn't be done. Some said that I should do something more useful with my time. Actually, I'm not sure if anyone did any of those things. Generally people have been quite supportive. Anyway, to continue...
I battled my way through libraries, archives, film fairs, seminars, conferences, and above all my own laziness, to eventually submit a completed thesis, which following a viva last week, has netted me a Doctorate. I was given an unconditional pass, which came as something of a shock after the two hours of suggested changes. It turned out the feedback was so that I could turn it into a book to submit to the BFI. They thought it was a major piece of scholarship which makes an important contribution to film history. Which is nice.
I am trying to celebrate this week by relaxing and catching up with TV shows on the Sky box, but I also have 50 essays waiting to be marked, so there's that to bring me back down to Earth.
So there you have it. You too could be a doctor in just six years. Easy.
