I would like to thank the following for their invaluable assistance: Dr Carol Miller, University of Birmingham; Robert Kornreich, University of Central England; Dr Dorothy Rowe; administrative staff of Warwickshire County Cricket Club; Angela Lloyd.
The men and women of Piddock Road Police Station, Smethwick, have been consistently helpful and kind, but none is to be found in the pages of this book. The University of the West Midlands is entirely fictitious, though some of its problems may not be.