William Haydn Mervyn Matthews (July 25, 1932 – November 26, 2017) was a British expert on

Soviet society The culture of the Soviet Union passed through several stages during the country's 69-year existence. It was contributed to by people of various nationalities from every one of fifteen union republics, although the majority of the influence was ...

, writer, and broadcaster.Mervyn Matthews, expert on Soviet society – obituary
/ref> He was born in

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

and his early years are described in his 2002 memoir ''Mervyn's Lot''. He took a degree in Russian at

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, then moved to

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 un ...

, then

St Antony's College St Antony's College is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in intern ...

for work on his Ph.D. The story of his love with his future wife from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

(see "

Family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

") cost him carrier. He was accepted as a research fellow at

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

, but expelled from the Soviet Union in 1964 for " anti-Soviet propaganda and speculation". St Antony's College annulled his research fellowship for political troublemaking, after which he moved to the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

. He eventually settled as reader in the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

's linguistic and regional studies department.

Books

*1972: Class and Society in Soviet Russia *1978: Privilege in the Soviet Union: A Study of Elite Life-Styles Under Communism *1982: Education in the Soviet Union: Policies and Institutions Since Stalin *1986: Poverty in the Soviet Union: The Life-styles of the Underprivileged in Recent Years *1989: Patterns of Deprivation in the Soviet Union Under Brezhnev and Gorbachev *1993: The Passport Society: Controlling Movement In Russia And The USSR *2008: Mother Russia: A thrilling tale of crooks, corpses and Penclawdd cockles *(ed.) Soviet government: A selection of official documents on internal policies *(ed.)Soviet Sociology, 1964-75: A Bibliography *(ed.)Party, State and Citizen in the Soviet Union: A Collection of Documents *Trilogy of memoirs **Mervyn's Lot, "covered his troubled boyhood in war-torn Swansea of the thirties and forties" **Mila and Mervusya, "recounts the gripping tale of his extraordinary adventures with the KGB in Khrushchev's Russia during the Cold War" **Mervyn's Russia: A memoir of Russia, "his life in

Pimlico Pimlico () is a district in Central London, in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by Lon ...

with a colorful Russian wife Ludmila, following their marriage under the shadow of Lenin's statue in the Moscow Palace of Weddings in 1969; his return visits to the new, post-Soviet Russia and the many unusual Russians he met"

Family

He is father of Owen Matthews, a British expert on Soviet society. His wife was Lyudmila Bibikova, born in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Soviet Ukraine The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. Under the Soviet one-party m ...

. Their love history across the "

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

" had a notable place in Anglo-Soviet relations in the 1960s. It was told in Owen Matthews bestselling memoir ''Stalin’s Children'' and by Mervyn Matthews himself in ''Mila and Mervusya''.Virginia Rounding
''Stalin's Children, by Owen Matthews''
independent.co.uk, 20 June 2008 Bibikova's father, Boris Bibikov, was a Communist Party official executed in 1937.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Mervyn 1932 births 2017 deaths British historians Russian studies scholars British writers Alumni of the University of Manchester Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford