George Sydney Benedict Sayer (1 June 1914 – 20 October 2005) was a teacher at Malvern College, trustee of the Lewis estate and probably best known for his

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

of the author

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

.Telegraph obitiary Published 7 Nov 2005
Retrieved 9 May 2010

Career

Sayer was born at Bradfield in Berkshire, England. He was educated at

Trinity College, Glenalmond Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. T ...

, in Perthshire, Scotland, and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was tutored by C. S. Lewis. He joined the staff of Malvern College in 1945 after having been a Captain in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

Intelligence Corps on account of his fluent German. Sayer became Head of English in 1949. Lewis and Sayer became close friends to the extent that Lewis sought Sayer's advice when considering marrying

Joy Gresham Helen Joy Davidman (18 April 1915 – 13 July 1960) was an American poet and writer. Often referred to as a child prodigy, she earned a master's degree from Columbia University in English literature at age twenty in 1935. For her book of po ...

. On Lewis's death, Sayer was made a trustee of the Lewis estate. Sayer was also a close friend of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

. Excerpts from ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ''N ...

'' and ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

'' were recorded in Malvern in 1952, at the home of George Sayer. The recordings were later issued on long-playing

gramophone record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts ne ...

s. In the liner notes for ''J. R. R. Tolkien Reads and Sings his The Hobbit & The Fellowship of the Ring'', George Sayer wrote that Tolkien would relive the book as they walked and compared parts of the Malvern Hills to the White Mountains of Gondor.

Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English broadcaster, journalist, author, and television presenter. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate new ...

, a pupil at Malvern College from 1964 to 1968, described Sayer as "the most wonderful, inspirational teacher ... a profoundly decent and compassionate man ... the sort of teacher you dream of having".Guardian obituary 4 November 2005
Retrieved 9 May 2010

Personal life

Sayer converted to Christianity in 1935 through the spiritual counsel of a Catholic priest. Sayer's conversion introduced a new dimension into his relationship with Lewis. Sayer's first wife, Moira Casey died in 1977 following a long illness. In 1983 Sayer married Margaret Cronin.

Major work

Sayer, George (1988) ''Jack: C.S. Lewis and His Times''. Part memoir and part biography. The work is recommended by

Douglas Gresham Douglas Howard Gresham (born November 10, 1945) is an American British stage and voice-over actor, biographer, film producer, and executive record producer. He is one of the two stepsons of C. S. Lewis. Early life Gresham was born in Ne ...

as one of the very best C. S. Lewis biographies available.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sayer, George British biographers People associated with Malvern, Worcestershire Writers from Worcestershire 1914 births 2005 deaths Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford People educated at Glenalmond College 20th-century biographers