… was a natural philosopher and one of the few people to have been the head of a college at both the universities, becoming Warden of Wadham College in Oxford in 1648 and moving to be Master of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1657. The latter appointment was arranged by Cromwell, who was by then his brother-in-law.

Wilkins was involved with a group of experimental scientists in London and Oxford which would go on to form the Royal Society. John Wallis, the mathematician and cryptographer in ‘The Urchin’, was part of this group. I’m trying to persuade Wilkins, who was a very interesting character, to put in a cameo in ‘Sudden Deaths’, but he’s proving a bit coy at the moment.