Spellbound by Extravaganza

~ Friday, July 20 th 1984 Cumbrian News , by Peter Roberts ~

The next Vice-Principal of University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, will be Professor John Andrews, who is also caretaker-head of the town's Arts Centre.

And when I went to interview Professor Andrews about his new post on Monday, he was on the set of Theatr ý Werin's production of Godspell and keener to talk about that than anything else.

He said he was very intent on bringing the Arts Centre into the forefront of arts and entertainment in Aberystwyth. However, he did confirm that he will take over from present Vice-Principal, Professor Hugh Rees, in November 1985 for a two-year period.

Prof Andrews has been Professor of Law at Aberystwyth since 1967 following lectureships at Birmingham and Manchester. Last year he was lecturing at the university of Maryland, USA and before that in Cracow, Poland and Thessaloniki, Greece.

Despite being the editor of the learned journal "Legal Studies" and recently publishing the academic "The Welsh Language in the Courts" he is approachable and anxious to disclose that Universities "should not be shut up in their ivory towers."

For many years he has been the chairman of the University of Wales Validation Board and as such has been heavily involved in the approval of degree schemes in public-sector institutions like Trinity College, Carmarthen, Bangor Normal College and the Institutes of Higher Education of Gwent, South Glamorgan, West Glamorgan and North-East Wales. He is also a JP and a former governor of Penglais School, Aberystwyth.

But it is his existing extra-mural job at the Arts Centre that will be occupying his mind mostly this summer. He has already seen a preview of Godspell and described it as a "really exciting show."

He said, "It is one of the best things to come to Aberystwyth for years and is going to be as popular as 'Joseph' was. Seats are already going well."