It was January 1968. In those summer days before the start of my first term as a university lecturer, I'd arrive early in the morning, go into my room and more or less skulk there. I didn't even go to morning tea. I knew two people in the whole School of Language and Literature at Flinders University and they were both on leave.
After about two weeks of my reclusive behaviour, I was startled one morning when there was what sounded like not a knock but a kick on my door, which then burst open before I could speak, and in walked Brian Medlin, inaugural professor of philosophy.
'Look, mate,' he said, 'if you've taken a vow of silence for some reason, then of course I'll respect it. As a matter of fact, there are a few people round here I wish would emulate you. But if that's not the case, why don't you come and have a cup of tea and meet some of your colleagues, for what that might turn out to be worth.'
So I did, of course, and my life at Flinders changed radically for the better under what became a stern, no bullshit but straightforwardly affectionate mentorship.
Though in general, like most of us, Brian loathed meetings and committees, the committee room was one of the many stages on which he gave some of his more memorable performances. I would often sit with him at the meetings and so had a privileged view of the theatre that frequently followed his entry into a debate.
At one meeting, while Brian was speaking I could see that on the opposite side of the table a self-proclaimed Medlin antagonist was becoming quietly enraged and the moment he had an opportunity he launched into an extraordinary tirade. When the chairman offered Medlin the right of reply, he said, 'Mr Chairman, I did not say what I said with the express intention of driving our colleague opposite into an apoplectic fit. That this has in fact happened I can only regard as a bonus.'
At another characteristically tumultuous meeting, the head of the discipline of fine arts handed round a printed page headed 'Propositions'. There were 11 propositions but as it turned out not enough of the sheets to go round. When one of them reached me I put it between us and we both read it. Brian, having studied it intently for a few minutes,