When I joined the Editorial Board of the Journal in 1949, I regarded the other five members as at least personal acquaintances and some as long-standing friends and colleagues. Indeed, apart from T. H. Middleton, I had known personally all the Editors from the founders in 1905, while my position on the staff of the School of Agriculture at Cambridge since 1931 and my close working association with R. H. Biffen and H. Hunter meant that the Journal occupied a special position in day-to-day life. Service on the Board since 1949 has provided the opportunity for what in effect seems a continuous association over a large part of the Journal's life commencing as it did with R. H. Biffen, A. D. Hall and T. B. Wood, who was the first Chief Editor, succeeded in turn by R. H. Biffen, F. H. A. Marshall, H. Hunter and J. Hammond, all of whom were my senior colleagues.