Dear Nick,

I see that you are about to complete FIFTY years as an actuary - what's more, as a Faculty man. Hearty congratulations! Anyone who achieves that feat must either have been very brilliant in his youth or be very old indeed, and we know you are not very old at all.

I know from the years when you were Executive Director at the Life Insurance Federation of Australia and we worked together for that institution that you are an industrious chap, and I had benefit then from your interest and expertise in the English language and buiness affairs generally, but I had not realised you had written - and published - 62 books, more than one a year since you qualified.

In your spare time you have created a web site which is a source for all of us of information, entertainment and unexpected gems of knowledge. In short, that early brilliance was not a flash in the pan, more the dawn of a new light.

Of course, you are still producing, and I hope we will continue to benefit from your work for many years to come.

Well done, Nick, and best wishes

Iain Ross