At a time when a PhD at the very least is needed for the lowliest academic appointment, an obituary in Edinburgh University's staff bulletin harks back to halcyon days. Stuart Piggot, one of the foremost prehistorians of his generation, who held the Abercromby chair of archaeology from 1946 until his retirement in 1977, was appointed professor without even having a first degree. His early vocational training included a stint as a junior assistant in Reading Museum for ten shillings a week, and working for the amateur archaeologist Alexander Keiller, a man of independent means, thanks to Dundee Marmalade.