To honour the distinguished Members of our Editorial Board, it has now become customary to publish on the occasion of their 80th birthday a contribution to this Journal chosen by them. This may be a summary of their life's work, as Dr Joseph Needham decided (Volume 5, Number 4, page 263, 1980). Lord Ashby suggested a re-publication of his Compton Memorial Lecture of 1964, and this appeared in 1984 volume 9, Number 3, page 205. Here Sir William McCrea recalls a fascinating period of what has now become a decisive development in the history of science. Sir William outlines his career subsequent to the period 1925–1929, in the last section of this review. He calls it: The Start of Another Story.
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