Big Daddy of them all was the 18 cylinder Napier Deltic. The college had a cutaway of one in the foyer. Impressive, but like the triple knocker, past glory.



They had us studying the next up and coming thing in quite a lot of detail. It was to be the future of truck engines - The Leyland Gas Turbine.
My initial interest soon turned into disappointment when it was discovered that it was nothing like an aircraft turbine engine.

Nothing came of it. Waste of time studying it and waste of Leyand's money producing all the study materials for students.  It had already been scrapped and resurrected several times. Optimism was high that they had fixed most of the problems, it was to be the biggest thing since sliced bread in the late 70s. Already falling into obscurity again when we were studying it. 
Consequently, no one really put any heart into learning about it or teaching it.  It was on the curriculum, but already regarded as a lost cause.
I recall spending much of my time doodling motorcycles, aircraft and yamaha logos in sheer bordom.  Iconel this, heat exchanger that, cetrifugal flow the other.  Yawn.  It being Friday afternoon, I was already counting down the hours until I would be in the pubs and nightclubs, chasing girls and getting completely shitfaced.

Gas turbine, blimey that's pretty radical. Thanks for posting.

When I was at college in the 70s, we visited an RN workshop that rebuilt those Napier Deltic engines. Was far more interesting than the day to day college stuff..........