{"id":11485,"date":"2026-05-01T09:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T08:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/videoarchive\/?p=11485"},"modified":"2026-05-01T09:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T08:08:17","slug":"john-smith-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/videoarchive\/john-smith-1980\/","title":{"rendered":"John Smith: 1980"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/videoarchive\/files\/2024\/08\/BookReaderPreview-e1723817267879.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"241\" height=\"380\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-11668\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/videoarchive\/files\/2024\/08\/BookReaderPreview-e1723817267879.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>I have featured former college secretary John Smith in a previous blog that you can see <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/videoarchive\/john-smith-2006\/\">here<\/a>. However, that recording, which was part of the college&#8217;s 2007 centenary events, was his recollections of his time working at Imperial. This interview that I discovered in the STOIC video archive includes some fascinating details about his life prior to coming to Imperial as college secretary.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Not many may have known that he was Governor of the former Gilbert and Ellis Islands and had authored a number of books. The book mentioned in this interview (right) can still be found on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Nigeria-Crisis-Beyond-John-Oyinbo\/dp\/0853140723\">Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">In this 13 March 1980 black and white interview, former STOIC Chairman Mike Prosser is speaking to John Smith in the College TV Studio.<\/p>\r\n<p><div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2qcn2vAos6M?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Colin Grimshaw May 2026<\/strong><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Another discovery with this 1980 interview with former college secretary John Smith. He talks about his time as Governor of the former Gilbert and Ellis Islands and as an author!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3921,18461,80],"tags":[603],"class_list":["post-11485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-update","category-college-history","category-people","tag-administration"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>John Smith: 1980 - Imperial College Video Archive Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/videoarchive\/john-smith-1980\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Smith: 1980 - Imperial College Video Archive Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Another discovery with this 1980 interview with former college secretary John Smith. 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