In memory of Chris Dobson, distinguished scientist, knight of the realm and much-loved friend. He was the man whom, as Head of House of my college, St. John’s College, Cambridge, a malign fate forced me, a card-carrying feminist, to address as ‘Master’. Sometimes.To my two grandmothers: Belmira Gabão and Adelina Lisboa. And to my two lovely mothers-in-law: Winifred Brick and Anne Woolf (Mrs. Ogre). A grandmother is a mother twofold and a good mother-in-law is a gift that keeps on giving.