presented research on the tectonic evolution of the Arctic North Atlantic region. He looked at the history of the movements of these arctic terranes and at their ‘fit’ during the Caledonian orogeny. He described how substantial transcurrent, or strike slip, faulting provided the best explanation on their relative positions. At the end of 1964 he visited Beijing, Moscow and Leningrad where he again presented this research and argued for a theory of Continental drift. Over the following decades, Harland and colleagues used field data for developing models describing Svalbard's terranes and fault systems, which were important in understanding the tectonic evolution of the North Atlantic Region. Palaeomagnetism Harland was using palaeomagnetism before it became widely used and more sophisticated. With his student Derek Bidgood he made the first attempt, in 1958, to examine the palaeomagnetism of Precambrian glacial deposits, using rock samples collected in Greenland and Norway. The admittedly ′not very good′ palaeomagnetic results indicated that the Precambrian tillite formations had been deposited at low latitudes near the equator of the time. This contributed to his postulation that there had been a major Precambrian ice-age, with ice sheets or floating icebergs carrying the erratic blocks now embedded in the tillite, extending over most or all of the globe. There was the associated implication that the relevant landmasses had changed dramatically in latitude since the Precambrian indicated continental drift. Global Late Precambrian Glaciations Harland argued that there had been severe global glaciations in late Precambrian times and the evidence he presented was to form the foundations of Snowball Earth theory. His views were informed by extensive fieldwork on the glacial marine deposits in the Hecla Hoek strata in Svalbard. He showed that evidence of late Precambrian global glaciations was remarkably widespread by gathering evidence from all the continents of the world except the Antarctic. He argued that glacial tillites had been deposited at tropical latitudes, appealing for support of his and Derek Bidgoods’ palaeomagnetic work. He described the evidence of glacial deposits interrupting strata suggestive of warm conditions. With this evidence he also claimed that a general theory of continental drift must now be accepted. He collaborated with palaeontologist Martin Rudwick, who described how an episode of almost glacial global conditions had been followed by an altered climate and environment which made possible the proliferation of animal life in Cambrian times. When he presented his paper on evidence for a late