Congratulations, Tommy Reilly!

It isn't every day that one of your advisees comes to see you saying they won't be around for a few weeks, because they are in the final of the Orange Unsigned Acts competition in London, and they might miss a few things. Of course, failing to hand in coursework or missing tests without a med cert might result in Credit Withheld, and naturally I can't sanction that sort of thing. But I'm proud to say that I told the advisee in question, Tommy Reilly, that he'd be mad not to go; if he'd decided to give up, there would always been that nagging doubt.

(Photo by Julia Nicolle)

As almost everybody now knows, Tommy won the competition, is working on his first album, and has his first top 20 hit. If this hasn't yet come to your attention, you can read all about it on the [BBC News site] where Tommy is compared with Dylan, or the [programme's web page]

Tommy has suspended his studies for now to pursue his high-flying career. There is a limit on the amount of time you can take to complete a B.Eng.. However if Brian May can [hand in his Ph.D. thesis 36 years late] I will certainly petition the University to let Tommy back in if he wants to return to complete at a later date.

Congratulations, Tommy Reilly, and best luck with your future career (whatever it is).