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Leonard Thompson Leonard Thompson was the Charles J Stillé Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University, USA, and director of the former Yale Southern African Research Program. Born in England in 1916, Thompson was educated there and in South Africa and completed his university studies at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University from 1937 to 1939. At the start of the Second World War, he volunteered for the Royal Navy, was commissioned as a lieutenant and won several medals for distinguished service. After the war, Thompson taught at the University of Cape Town where he became King George V Professor of History. A lifelong opponent of racial discrimination and apartheid, he was a member of the Liberal Party in the 1950s and left South Africa for the United States in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. A prolific author and scholar, Leonard Thompson died in May 2005. A prize in his name is being established at Yale which will recognise outstanding doctoral dissertations in African history. Extras Reviews, News & Interviews: