Richard Munton: Geographer and rural geographer

In the autumn of 1961 he began a three-year course at the University of Birmingham. The geography department comprised about a dozen academics and was headed by Professor David Linton, the distinguished geomorphologist (Gold et al. 1983). Three years earlier, at the age of 52, Linton had moved to Birmingham after 13 years as professor of geography at Sheffield. He was an excellent lecturer and was strongly committed to geographical education, working tirelessly on behalf of the Geographical Association. He was also a ‘king-maker’ whose advice was sought when academic promotions were to be made in British geography. The three other senior figures in the Birmingham department were Harry Thorpe, the historical geographer of the West Midlands; Gordon Warwick, the limestone geomorphologist; and Basil Johnson, the economic geographer, who would leave for a professorial post in Australia early in Richard’s second year (Slater 1982, 1988).