16 NOVEMBER 1951, Page 7

Mr. Jimmy Edwards, "the comedian," I read, has been elected

Rector of Aberdeen University, in succession to Lord Tweeds- rnuir and with 60 votes more than Lord Lovat. Why. I wonder, do the undergraduates do this ? Comedians render great service to society, and Mr. Edwards is none the worse for a Cambridge background to his comedy. But there live in memory some of the great Rectorial orations at Scottish universities—General Smuts's, Sir James Barrie's (On Courage) and, of a rather different order, Lord Birkenhead's. Has life lost its seriousness And Hit has, is that an advantage ? -