\author{Jonathan Fine}
\title{Donald Knuth's 60th birthday}
\begin{Article}
Recently I noticed from the \TeX book{} that Knuth would be 60 in
1998.  I thought it might be nice to organise a meeting to express
our appreciation.  And so I wrote to him, suggesting this.  I also
took the opportunity to ask him about his relationship and attitude
to the NTS project.  His reply follows.  (Photocopies were circulated
to those present at the 1998 AGM.)

\begin{quotation}
Dear Jonathan,

Thanks for your letter.

About birthdays, I believe (with the Beatles) that a 64th birthday is
vastly more interesting than a 60th birthday. Thus I will be looking
forward most eagerly to January 10, 2002.

However, I am of course delighted that you and others might still
appreciate some of my work after having ben exposed to it for so
long.  Thanks for the sentiment.

About NTS and $\Omega$, etc., I have always encouraged work that
leads to improvements in typography.  I want \TeX{} itself to remain
a fixed point forever, warts and all, entirely my responsibility; but
I also believe that anything of nontrivial complexity is inherently
non-optimum.  So I look forward to continued improvements by
conscientious people who are dedicated to quality software.  (I do
warn them that the task of reaching a decent fixed point is not
easy!)

Best wishes for a successful AGM.  I received my invitation two days
ago and it looks like a splendid meeting has been planned, although
of course I cannot take the time to travel while working on
\textsl{TAOCP}.

Sincerely,

Donald E. Knuth
\end{quotation}

It is at present too early, in my opinion, to make plans for Knuth's
64th (octal 100 and binary 1,000,000) birthday.  But in a year, or
perhaps two, we should allow the prospect of such a meeting, to
celebrate his contribution, to come forward in our minds.

\end{Article}