A snapshot of 1990
In this year at Warwick:
- The University was awarded the “Carl Bertelsmann Prize” for its outstanding innovatory ideas and initiatives.
- Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visits campus for second time to open the Advanced Technology Centre.
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Rover sets up a new company at Warwick – Rover Learning Business – to train over half its workforce.
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The Vice-Chancellor opened the Warwick Study situated on the first floor of the Students’ Union. It offered students discounts on computers, a place to meet Staff/Student Liaison Committee representatives, a CV service and general advice. It also sold second-hand books.
- The Warwick Boar wins the Impact Prize at the Guardian Student Media Awards at a ceremony held at King’s College London. The prize was for the most improved publication.
- On the 8th December Warwick saw the arrival of Arctic conditions and three foot snow drifts leaving hundreds of students' stranded. To read more about 'Warwick in Winter Wonderland' click here.
The portrait was commissioned to commemorate the Chancellorship of Lord Scarman from 1977-89. Lord Scarman was a Judge and Lord Appeal from 1977-86, and author of The Scarman Report, The Brixton Disorders 10-12 April 1981. The portrait in the background is of Mark Douglas, the Rastafarian who ran the restaurant in South London where Tom Phillips and Lord Scarman lunched during sittings. The columns symbolise the Pillars of the Law. Phillips explained these as a visual pun as Lord Scarman was a pillar of the Establishment and 'a capital fellow'. The quotation is taken from Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man. 57TR is 57 Talfourd Road where the sittings took place; Ch88 is Charter 88 founded by Lord Scarman and others with the intention of gaining support for the idea of a (BI)LL of RIGH(TS).
And in the world:
- Nelson Mandela was released after more than 27 years in prison.
- The Hubble telescope was launched into space.
- Poll Tax introduced in UK causing mass demonstrations, those who demonstrated claimed the tax moved the tax burden from the rich to the poor.
- Great Britain is gripped by a heat wave and the highest recorded temperatures in British History are recorded of 37.1C, or 99F in Nailstone, Leicestershire.
Margaret Thatcher opening the Advanced Technology Centre in 1990.
