Why did I ever forget that one’s word should be his bond? Prof G.G Darah, yes, that same “activist academic” who has flowered scholarly in translucent colours since the 1980s and 1990s when the “gown” and the “town” embraced as academics took unusual interest in general societal matters, phoned me recently to remind me of my month’s old promise to write about the origin of the academic gown.