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The Popperian Knight, Sir Hermann Bondi, sought to incorporate his mentor's ideals of creativity, imagination purity and scepticism into British teaching - whether in the sciences or the humanities. The aim, initially at least, was to broker an understanding between the scientific profession and government paymasters. But a golden opportunity would also present itself: owing largely to his Presidency of the Association of Science Education, Bondi was to contribute to the Royal Society's Public Understanding of Science initiative - a significant platform and boost in his quest to establish Popper's ideas as the common language through which science could be understood.

This interview took place in Brussels in 1958 and involved two of the leading protagonists of the steady-state theory of the universe, Fred Hoyle and Hermann Bondi. The theory was an alternative to the evolutionary models described by general relativity. Hoyle and Bondi explained why they were dissatisfied with this class of theory and why their own theory, according to which the universe is infinitely old and unchanging on a large scale, is methodologically superior. They discussed the then current observational situation, including the challenge from radioastronomy, and concluded that there were no observations at the time that disagreed seriously with the steady-state theory. Hoyle strongly opposed the idea of a big bang, which he considered to be metaphysical and illegitimate, indeed a scientific version of biblical genesis.

The Defence Research Committee (DRC) was the successor to the Defence Research Policy Committee (DRPC). This paper traces the history of the DRC and its influence on UK defence research programmes. The DRC, like the DRPC, conducted major reviews of the defence research programme, balancing inter-service demands, responding to new strategic guidance, and searched for cuts as projects overran budgets and the national economy struggled. The DRC acted as gatekeeper, proceeding with some projects while ending others. The DRC paid attention to some topics that the DRPC had not, including the balance between civil and military research, the human sciences and Northern Ireland. Influential individuals, such as John Kendrew and Hermann Bondi, are identified. Finally the transition to the current defence advice structure, involving both the DRC and a new Defence Scientific Advisory Council (DSAC) is discussed.