Professor Bernard Neal, 81, head of department of civil engineering 1976-82, has won the All England Club's other sporting championship - croquet - 37 times, regularly beating opponents half his age.

Croquet was once the principal sport at Wimbledon, which started life as the All England Croquet Club.

Yards from the cabinet housing Wimbledon's trophies, three honours boards pay tribute to the dominance of Professor Neal. Only three times has he not lifted the trophy since 1963 - 1964, 1974 and 2001.

Once the fortnight is over, the manicured lawn at the southern end of the grounds hosts battles of hoop and mallet, and yet another charge by Professor Neal, who will defend his croquet title recaptured last year, with 'a steady eye and cunning tactics.'

Maths whizz kids
An interactive online mathematics resource was launched at Imperial's Science and Engineering Open Day on 26 June.

Designed to help and encourage talented A-level students, Metric offers self-test exercises, online tutorials and interactive explorations of mathematical concepts that can be used in teacher-led sessions or for self-study.

Phil Ramsden, Metric project manager, explained: "We're serious about widening access to Imperial, but we're also serious about keeping up standards. Metric is one of the things that helps us to do both at the same time."

For further details, visit: metric.ma.imperial.ac.uk.

Faculty Awards ceremony
The faculty of medicine has celebrated its five year birthday. Faculty of Medicine Fellowships have been awarded to Mr Gavyn Davies, OBE, Professor Sir Charles George and Professor John Richard Batchelor. Teaching Excellence Awards went to James Powles, Dr Rimah El Borai, Peter McDonald, Dr Michael Fertleman, Dr David Perkin, Dr Jeremy Levy, Dr Stuart Rosen, Ms Denise O'Donnell, Dr Don Henderson and Martin Thomas.

Appointment
Suzanna Taverne has been appointed Director of Operations with effect from 1 July 2003. She will manage the Support Services Project and will be a member of the Executive Committee.

Suzanna has worked in senior management, strategic and financial roles in both the public and private sectors. Before coming to Imperial as a consultant last October, she was Managing Director of the British Museum. She has also worked as Director of Strategy and Development at Pearson Plc, as a Consultant to the Board of Saatchi & Saatchi plc and as Finance Director of Newspaper Publishing, owner of The Independent.