I first met Nick shortly after my arrival at Chelsea College, in 1977. I found him inspirational -- kind, funny, serious, passionate and a delight to talk to. There was a bit of joyousness to our interactions; I recall one, where I proposed we sing our philosophical debates, as in opera; and Nick loved the idea, we did a duet. He was up for anything. 

I later found one of his papers quite persuasive, arguing with typical ambition and generality that objective probability, and the concept of an ‘open’ future, was incompatible with special relativity. It was excoriated by Howard Stein, the doyen of philosophy of spacetime in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but Nick was in good company: Howard was just as lethal in his comments on Hilary Putnam. In later years Nick spoke of this contribution of his and not really important, but to me it was. He, Stein, Putnam – great philosophers of science, at the top of their game. 

Above all, and it became clearer in his later life, he was a man possessed of a moral vision. He had great moral seriousness. What so distinguished it was that it had nothing to do with ordinary political questions; it was a kind of ethics of intellectual endeavour. It was a remarkable, and I only wish I could have assisted him better in explaining it. But as always with Nick, he did it his way. 

In our last communication, we were trying to arrange a visit to his home, before Christmas. He wanted to learn more about quantum computing. I cherish that in him. He was curious to the last. 

Simon Saunders