Hello Watson readers! This week we are starting a new series where we interview our lovely Queen's U History professors! This week we have responses from our Department Chair, Professor Jeffrey Collins.
1. What is your favourite part about being a professor?
That is hard to say, as the job entails really two distinct halves: research/writing, and teaching. I love doing both, and they are related. Being an active researcher makes an historian a better, more engaged teacher. If you really made me choose I suppose I’d say my favorite part of the job is writing. As a high school student I wanted to be a journalist, or a novelist (!) and I’ve always loved to write.
2. If you could give your students one piece of advice, what would it be?
I’ll give them two. First, learn to write. It is a vanishing skill and one that will serve you well in any career you choose. The better you get at writing the more you will enjoy it. Second, learn a second language while in university.
3. Who is a person in history that you would most like to meet, and why?
I’ve studied Thomas Hobbes and John Locke for years now, so I suppose I should pick one of them. But Hobbes was supposedly a great curmudgeon and he probably wouldn’t like much of what I have written about him. Locke, to be honest, seems a bit worthy and dull. So perhaps I’ll choose Oliver Cromwell. They’d have to reattach his head however, which was removed from his disinterred corpse after the Restoration.
4. What is your favourite or least favourite historical fiction movie/tv show?
There is a gory French movie about the wars of religion called “Queen Margot” that I liked. Two adapted plays that are terrific are “Amadeus” and “The Madness of George III”. I also confess to liking “The Crown”. Another good historical picture, about the Soviet Union, is “Burnt by the Sun”. Least favorite? Probably Kate Blanchett’s bio-pic of Elizabeth I.
5. Astrology was a big part of history. So, what’s you star sign?
I’m an Aries. No idea what that means!
Thanks for reading, and a big thank you to Dr. Collins for taking part! Keep your eyes open for the next instalment of "Interview with a Professor"