We are terribly sorry to hear the sad news about Jon. He was a brilliant scientist with a truly incisive mind; someone whose opinion always commanded utmost respect. We have suffered a great loss to our field.
We have two anecdotes. One relates to his kindness to us on one occasion. We arrived to examine one of his students when he was at Birkbeck with an unfinished grant on a memory stick - and Jon really put himself out to enable the grant to be submitted, despite it not being quite the final article when we went to him. Sometimes people find themselves too busy to offer help. Though Jon was undoubtedly busy, not helping was out of the question. We will always be grateful for his support on this.
The second was at a talk given at the EPS meeting in Birmingham in the summer of 1985, when he arrived late and a little bit flustered but with good reason. Anyone who was there will not forget that happier moment.
