Gordon Glegg design lecturer, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Channel: Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Date: 18/09/2017

Gordon Glegg was a design lecturer in the Engineering Department during the 1960s and 1970s.  He was a very successful designer and an extremely charismatic speaker.  Every lecture was illustrated with delightful anecdotes, many related to his early fascination with motorsport.  His lectures were always packed out!

He instigated a voluntary conceptual design course that ran in the afternoons and proved to be very popular.  After he retired, this course was introduced as a permanent part of the 1st year course in the Department and runs to this day.

He wrote four insightful short books that are still relevant today: The Design of Design (1969) The Selection of Design (1972) The Science of Design (1973) and The Development of Design (1981).

For several years after he retired, he was asked to come back and repeat his design lectures.  It was decided to video record his lectures on the last occasion he returned.  When the tapes were eventually retrieved, they had deteriorated very badly and only one 46-minute section could be saved.  Despite the poor quality, his character, style and enthusiasm shine through.  This clip contains his famous example of what he referred to as the ‘fitness of things’ or a ‘good idea’, namely the stealing of rolls of plastic flooring from a locked warehouse!

We hope this short clip will bring back happy memories of a remarkable and inspirational design lecturer.