Professor Mick Moore met Tennyson and Vinitha in the mid-1970s when he was living in Colombo and they remained close friends afterward. He states that Tennyson combined a remarkably clear-eyed scepticism about public life in Sri Lanka with a strong and practical commitment to national progress.  

Professor Mick Moore works as a researcher and teacher in Africa and Asia and focuses on issues of governance and public finance. He is also interested in research in Sri Lanka and has published extensively. In January 2021, he was awarded the OBE for services to international development. He is also a Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex.