John A. Raven

Abstract

I was brought up on a farm in northwest Essex, UK, so was surrounded by cereal, legume, and root crops, and pastures, as well as 'natural' vegetation. I wanted to know more about them: what the plants in the 'natural' vegetation were, and especially how the plants worked. At my secondary school we had very good science teaching, and this was especially the case for biology, which was taught by a botany graduate, one Ken Plant (yes, really). At the University of Cambridge I followed the botany thread, but to keep my options open I also read chemistry. Options closed after a car accident (entirely my fault) just before the start of my second year, when I decided that invertebrate zoology was easier to follow from my hospital bed than advanced chemistry. This was, in retrospect, fortunate as I could not have succeeded in final year chemistry. The plant physiology teaching in the final year was excellent, with Enid MacRobbie and the late Martin Canny. I was especially drawn to Enid's approach and her research area.