Some 39 years after first graduating, John finally gained his PhD from the University of Birmingham! Accompanied by his two younger children, both of whom look more like graduands than he does, he received his degree form Sir Domininc Cadbury on Monday. John's thesis was on the use of stochastic models in predator-prey and parasitoid-host systems, using implicitly-defined models to characterise the complex overdispersion usually associated with such data. Based on some ideas arising from collaborative work with entomologists at Warwick HRI, the thesis focused on a model known to ecologists and entomologists as functional response - essentially a special form of quantal bio-assay relating to the consumptive capacity of predators. The work was supervised by Professor Malcolm Faddy, now of Queensland University of Technology, a collaborator and friend for the last 15 years.