The celebrations to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the International African Institute included an appropriate mixture of the academic, the religious (Islamic and Christian), and the cultural (in the form of Afro-Caribbean song and dance).

At the meeting at Kings College on 1 July, attended by a large and distinguished audience with a professional of personal interest in African Affairs, the principal speaker was Professor K. Onwuka Dike, of Nigeria, now Professor of African History at Harvard, and until last year Vice-Chairman of IAI.

Professor Dike outlined briefly the beginnings of the Institute from its foundation in 1926 under the chairmanship of Sir Frederick (later Lord) Lugard “not only a leading authority on African government and administration but a controversial figure whom, whether one liked him or not, few could afford to ignore”.