On the 6th of May Professor Steve Rawle of York St John University will be hosting his inaugural lecture, speaking about his experiences over the years.

A year since being awarded his professoriate, this talk will be covering his early work and university days to his position now as a lecturer at York St John University.

This lecture is a tradition for all lecturers at York St John who do become a professor, to talk about their achievements, their path to becoming a professor and normally quite a few anecdotes in front of their peers and students.

As any student who has or is studying film and TV or any subject around this will know, Steve has an unyielding love for the 200 – odd foot tall reptilian, Godzilla.

But this love didn’t start with Godzilla, instead it started with a research project into eastern movies and the Kaiju films from across the east which lead him onto this reptilian road which has become synonymous with him.

Lovingly nicknamed “Dr Monster” by students, I think it’s a safe bet to say that Godzilla may be referenced once or twice during the lecture.

Having written three research books himself on the creature, co-written, written and co-edited many others, it would also be a fair assumption to say he is some form of expert on the subject.

There has also been a rumour of a first and only screening of a film or two created by him during university.

I had the pleasure of meeting with Steve before this lecture and asking him a few questions and collecting some behind the scenes information.

I think that this achievement is amazing and worth celebrating or at least raising awareness of.

However, I do also believe that with this title change, I think the same should apply for his nickname “Professor Monster” and that too should be given a promotion.