Right said Fred

Alumnus to be proud of No 63 has received more praise for his personal integrity and honesty over the past few days - albeit in distinctly Mark Antony style - than most people do in a lifetime.

Fred the Freemason, a.k.a Sir Frederick Crawford, chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, was well known to readers of this paper for steering Aston University to its season ticket in the safety net.

And he has been to elections for chair of the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals what British competitors are to the Olympics.

Quite where he acquired his trouser-leg rolling tastes is anyone's guess - perhaps as an undergraduate in the University of London or postgraduate at Liverpool?

But surely not as treasurer of the National Union of Students between 1957 and 1959.