“This is the age of science”, is the cry from ministries and other authorities, and it is true that science must play a large part in the lives of our future citizens. But do we truly want or need a nation of scientists where each person can claim that he or she has attained some sort of recognition of one or other kind of scientific achievement? Is there to be no room for the Arts; is there to be no effort to instil into those still young enough to learn, that a robot society which neither knows nor cares about lovely things or natural beauties or plants or animals will be a dry as dust existence as arid as any desert.”

Maxwell Knight – Chapter I of (the unpublished) Frightened Face of Nature (1964).

See also: Richard Attenborough’s ‘The arts are not a luxury’ speech