WATCH: English lecturers absolutely nail Take That cover

Professor John McGavin is retiring from the English department after 40 years of service to the University.

One would imagine he’d be given a series of presents from his colleagues, thanking him for the years of hard work. Well, not quite.

Instead, the English department banded together to create the most embarrassingly charming video since Charlie had his finger bitten.

The Barlow of the group is Will May, who changed the verses to make it a personal tribute to Mr McGavin, and the wonderful howling that intersects this piece is provided by Shakespeare expert Ros King.

Our favourite moment is at 1:56. But the whole video is DEFINITELY worth a watch (behind the sofa if you study English).

David, a first year English student said:

It seems like an in joke and a nice private function for the lecturers and though it was sweet, they should not have shared it with the students perhaps.

We think it’s great that they shared it, and we can only hope that other departments will begin to wonderfully, atrociously, serenade their outgoing colleagues away in a similar fashion. We’ve even made a little list that they could take inspiration from:

History – Abba, Waterloo
Geology – Status Quo, Rockin’ All Over The World
Law – The Clash, I Fought The Law
Maths – Feist, 1,2,3,4
Sociology – R.E.M, Shiny Happy People
Engineering – Starship, We Built This City
Medicine – Michael Jackson, Heal The World
Chemistry – Britney Spears, Toxic
Zoology – Maroon 5, Animals

Got any other shouts for songs for a department? Let us know in the comments below.