LAUSR

John Shipman, who died on 3 November 2016 aged 77 years, belonged to a rapidly vanishing breed of British men who experienced first-hand the post-war dismantling of the Empire and dedicated their lives to the study and understanding of the peoples amongst whom they had served. An erudite Arabist, he took pleasure in collecting rare Arabic words and proverbs; al-rafīq qabl al-tarīq [trans.: choose your companion before the path] he used to say with relish, and this is something he ultimately practised during his own lifetime.