Vivien Noakes
Vivien Noakes (née Langley; 16 February 1937 – 17 February 2011)[1] was a British biographer, editor and critic. She was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
She was born Vivien Mary Langley, daughter of noted aeronautical engineer Marcus Langley[2] and educated at Dunottar School, but left with A-levels. It was not until later in life that she took her degree at Manchester College, Oxford, and Somerville College, Oxford, where she was subsequently lecturer.[3]
She lectured at Harvard University and at the Yale Center for British Art. She was an expert on Edward Lear[4] and on the literature of World War I.[5]
Personal life
She was married to the painter Michael Noakes, in collaboration with whom she produced The Daily Life of The Queen: An Artist's Diary (2000); the couple had three children: Anya, Jonathan and Benedict.[6]
Death
She died of cancer the day after her 74th birthday, a month after suffering a stroke.[7] Noakes left copies of many of Lear's letters to Somerville College Library.[8]
Works
- Edward Lear, The Life of a Wanderer (1968). ISBN 978-0750937443 (2006 ed.)
- Edward Lear, 1812-1888 (1986). ISBN 978-0810912625
- The Painter Edward Lear (1991). ISBN 978-0715397787
- The Daily Life of The Queen: An Artist's Diary (2000) with Michael Noakes. ISBN 978-0091869823
- Voices of Silence (2006).[9] ISBN 978-0750945219
Links
- Michael and Vivien Noakes' website; accessed 10 April 2014.
References
- Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship
- The Telegraph obituary, 11 March 2011; accessed 10 April 2014.
- Vivien Noakes obituary, warpoets.org; accessed 10 April 2014.
- Profile; accessed 10 April 2014.
- Cambridge Science Live; accessed 10 April 2014.
- Obituary, The Guardian, 4 March 2011; accessed 10 April 2014.
- Notice of the death of Vivien Noakes, nonsenselit.wordpress.com; accessed 10 April 2014.
- "Special Collections". some.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- Charles Lewsen (4 March 2011). "Vivien Noakes obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 June 2018.