Bob the Man - by Angie Hobbs

It’s a very great pleasure and honour to say a few words about my colleague and good and loyal friend of over 40 years – and I thought I’d say a bit not only about Bob the Philosopher, but also Bob the Man.  A man who, with just the one exception, I have always known to be of good humour and cheer – one of life’s enhancers.  The exception?  Well, maybe he mellowed a bit over time but in the early years the exception was Bob the Driver – when behind the wheel almost every other driver on the road was dismissed as an idiot and a fool.

We first met briefly while undergraduates at Cambridge, Bob studying Philosophy and I Classics, specializing in ancient philosophy.  I’d been at school with Crosby and Cros and I also found ourselves together at what was then New Hall (now Murray Edwards), and occasionally I would see Bob at parties where it was soon clear that although he and Crosby were with good and interesting partners at the time, they were the WRONG partners for them.  Delicate hints were dropped but of course they did not need them – they gravitated towards each other without external help. I also knew Bob’s name through the student magazine the Heckler, of which he was one of the founding fathers – much livelier and more subversive than the official student magazine, the Varsity.  Amongst other contributions, he also regularly supplied it with witty and brilliantly drawn cartoons (and his artistic side also found an outlet in set design and scenery painting at the ADC Theatre). 

Then I went off to live in Portugal and Italy while Bob forged on with his PhD.  When I returned to start my own doctorate he’d almost finished his, and he then won a Junior Research Fellowship at St John’s, and it was in this period that I really got to know him – sometimes meeting at the Moral Sciences, but far more often at the much more fun Amoral Sciences Club.  I remember one evening – though as you will see I have no idea quite how I remember - when Bob came round to my place for supper before an Amoral meeting, and we merrily consumed a bottle of wine, decided that wasn’t nearly enough and polished off another.  One’s twenties are a wonderful thing.  We then floated off to the meeting and I’m sure our questions were very brilliant.  At least neither of us was actually giving the paper.

The 80s were a very heady time to be studying philosophy in Cambridge – it was packed to the rafters with vivid characters.  G. M. Anscombe and Peter Geach were still there, terrorizing the Moral Sciences, and almost equally terrifying were Casimir Lewy’s logic lectures, which I attended before happily (for me) Tim Smiley took over.  Edward Craig, Hugh Mellor, Ross Harrison, Michael Tanner and Jonathan Lear at the start of the decade, joined by Jane Heal and Sue James later on.  In Ancient Philosophy there was my supervisor, Myles Burnyeat, and also David Sedley, Malcolm Schofield and Geoffrey Lloyd.  Quentin Skinner and Richard Tuck were prominent, and Bernard Williams – now Provost of King’s – still attended meetings pretty often.  Fellow graduates included David Owens, Tim Crane and Sebastian Gardner; Steve Makin was a Research Fellow.  

Bob absolutely thrived and was already being discussed as a coming player to be reckoned with.  But I also came to know that as well as the dedicated philosopher Bob, there was Bob-Dylan-loving Bob, and artist Bob – the cartoons continued to be spot on.  And this bohemian side to Bob flourished with Crosby.  They had a fabulous wedding at Muncaster Castle packed with glamorous guests – and a few philosophers – and then set up home in Norwich – where I was very impressed by their sconces; no-one else of our age had a sconce – before moving to their first Sheffield home in Havelock Street.  Here I was even more impressed by their amazing bright red bathroom.  Neighbours were apparently somewhat startled by the glowing red light in their window.

Adam arrived, and then my Molly, and then Lucy, and there were lovely shared family holidays in the Lake District and near Hadrian’s Wall.  It’s always been a matter of wonder to me that Bob has always managed to prioritize family and then friends, while still building his extraordinarily distinguished and influential career.  In all of this, of course, Crosby was influential, as was Bob in her own distinguished career in the conservation and interpretation of historic buildings – they have always been very much a team.  And we mustn’t forget vegetable growing.  One Sheffield Sunday lunch I was fortunate to attend included no fewer than seven vegetables that Bob had grown on his allotment, including salsify. 

I was lecturing at Warwick by this time, where of course resided fellow Hegelian expert Stephen Houlgate, and occasions when Bob visited to give a paper were Events with a capital E, with brilliant Q&A sessions.  It was a pleasure seeing such scholarship in action, and also a reminder that at its best text-based history of philosophy can be a springboard for creative and original philosophy in its own right.

Of course, Bob is one of the main reasons I came to Sheffield, and it’s been a blast – so many fabulous memories, and professionally I really enjoyed taking part in a number of the God and the Good events that Bob organized in the Cathedral.  When I arrived in 2012 Bob was largely running philosophy in the U.K (along with Sheffield colleagues Jenny Saul and Miranda Fricker), while also expanding his own expertise into Luther, Løgstrup and others – it is a matter of amused interest to those who know his views how much he has specialized in thinkers of faith, but perhaps it takes an outsider’s eye to scrutinize clearly.  I was often second marker for Løgstrup, and although I normally hate marking, this was a genuine pleasure – it was clearly such a wonderful module.  

But at no point during his rise to power and eminence did Bob ever cease to be the cheerful, kind-hearted, witty, stimulating and loyal friend.  I think he even mellowed a bit behind the wheel. 

Bob, thank you for all you have done for philosophy in this Department, Faculty, University, country and world.  But, above all, thank you for being Bob the Man.

Angie Hobbs March 2024