glanville williams was a respected and innovative teacher. he was also very supportive throughout their careers to a number of his junior colleagues. although a kind man, however, he was rather shy, and not a great socialiser outside the circle of his family. he was brought up in a pious congregationalist family in south wales, and much of his background stayed with him. notwithstanding his great eminence, he remained to the end of his days a quiet-spoken, modest, gentle, serious-minded welshman. although an agnostic for most of his life he knew his bible, and the use of biblical phrases was instinctive to him. "he smote him hip and thigh", he once said, describing an article an american had written criticising sigmund freud.