Sir Ian Kershaw has surprisingly retired from academic life in September 2008. Born 1943, he would not appear to have reached any age of compulsory retirement. Our correspondents writing to him at the University of Sheffield, England, receive this standard reply:

Date: Sunday, December 21, 2008

From: b.eaton@sheffield.ac.uk

To: [our correspondent]

Ian Kershaw retires from his post as Professor of Modern History at the University of Sheffield on September 30, 2008. He regrets that from this date onwards he will be unable:

1. To answer correspondence arising from his books and other writings.
2. To accept unsolicited typescripts (which cannot be returned).
3. To accept invitations to conferences.
4. To accept requests to review books.
5. To comment on typescripts or book proposals for publishers.
6. To referee project applications.
7. To accept reference requests without prior agreement.

Please accept his apologies if your message refers to any of the above.

Comments David Irving: The refusal of an academic to enter into correspondence arising from his books and other writings, even after his retirement, seems unprecedented. A friend comments: Kershaw's sudden retirement seems to have caught the university website unawares - it still lists him as Professor of Modern History and gives his room and phone number. A Yorkshire Post article published on August 8, 2008 mentions his forthcoming retirement but shows that he was still doing promotional work for his single volume edition of the Hitler biography. It does seem peculiar for an academic who is still only 65 not to enter into correspondence, and the oddest thing of all is his refusal to review books (for which presumably he would be paid). Perhaps he is seriously ill?