Dame Margaret Anstee on J B Trend

I’ve just got back from the MacColl Lecture given by Dame Margaret Anstee at Clare College. The event was to open the conference ‘Remembering JB Trend: the quiet internationalist’. I have to say it was an absolutely fascinating talk.

I didn’t know anything about J B Trend, so that was why I thought I’d pop along. Turns out Dame Anstee studied under him at Cambridge and had written a biography on him. He started out studying Natural Sciences at Cambridge but ended up travelling around Europe writing articles after he graduated. His friend suggested a trip to Spain and so his love affair with the country started. Such an expert he became that it’s hardly surprising that he became the first Professor of Spanish at Cambridge. He had a particular love of Spanish musicology and the first decade he visited Spain he travelled around the country, writing books and visiting remote monasteries to study their ancient musical texts. Sadly the outcome of the Spanish Civil War meant he never returned to Spain, refusing to set foot in the country while Franco remained in power.

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