Donald William Lucas (12 May 1905 – 28 February 1985) was an English classical scholar, Fellow of

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, and cryptanalyst at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He is remembered for his work on

Greek Drama A theatrical culture flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. At its centre was the city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, and the theatre was institutionalised there as par ...

and for his major edition of Aristotle's ''Poetics'' (

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

1968; revised 1972). J. T. Sheppard described his prose translations of Euripides as "astonishingly eloquent for so close a rendering". From 1952 to 1969 he was the third Perceval Maitland Laurence Reader in Classics at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Education and career

Educated at Colfe's (1912–1919) and at

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

, Lucas won a scholarship in 1924 to

, to read for the

Classical Tripos The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. It is equivalent to '' Literae Humaniores'' at Oxford University. It is traditionally a three-year degree, but for those who have not previ ...

. A prizeman there, he took a double

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

in 1926 and 1927. Elected

Apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

in 1925, he later became Secretary of the Society, delivering eleven papers. In 1929 he was elected to a Fellowship at King's College. A descriptive sketch of Lucas at this time appears in the first volume of

John Lehmann Rudolf John Frederick Lehmann (2 June 1907 – 7 April 1987) was an English publisher, poet and man of letters. He founded the periodicals '' New Writing'' and ''The London Magazine'', and the publishing house of John Lehmann Limited. Early ...

's autobiography, ''The Whispering Gallery'' (London, 1955).There are briefer references to him in ''Lydia and Maynard: The Letters of John Maynard Keynes and Lydia Lopokova'' (eds. Polly Hill and Richard Keynes, New York, 1989), p. 251, and in ''The Letters of T. S. Eliot'' (Eliot, Valerie; Haughton, Hugh; Haffenden, John: eds., London 2012), vol. 3 He was appointed College Lecturer in 1930, was University Lecturer from 1933 to 1969, and University Director of Studies in Classics from 1935 to 1965. He was co-editor of ''

The Classical Quarterly ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' from 1953 to 1959. His successor as Perceval Maitland Laurence Reader in Classics in 1969, the fourth and last person to hold the post, was

John Chadwick John Chadwick, (21 May 1920 – 24 November 1998) was an English linguist and classical scholar who was most notable for the decipherment, with Michael Ventris, of Linear B. Early life, education and wartime service John Chadwick was born at ...

, who retired in 1984. Lucas dedicated much of his time to Greek drama. His translations facing the Greek texts appeared in acting editions of ''

The Bacchae ''The Bacchae'' (; , ''Bakkhai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumou ...

'' of

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

(1930, 1956) and ''

The Frogs ''The Frogs'' (; , often abbreviated ''Ran.'' or ''Ra.'') is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in Athens, in 405 BC and received first place. The pla ...

'' of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

(1936, 1947) for the

Cambridge Greek Play The Cambridge Greek Play is a play performed in Ancient Greek by students and alumni of the University of Cambridge, England. The event is held once every three years and is a tradition which started in 1882 with the ''Ajax'' of Sophocles. The hi ...

. His 1930 translation of ''The Bacchae'', adapted for radio by

Raymond Raikes Raymond Montgomery Raikes (13 September 1910 – 18th March 1999) was a British theatre producer, director and broadcaster. He was particularly known for his productions of classic dramas for BBC Radio's "World Theatre" and "National Theatre of ...

, was first broadcast on the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces ...

in 1949, with

Carleton Hobbs Carleton Percy Hobbs, OBE (18 June 1898 – 31 July 1978) was an English actor with many film, radio and television appearances. He portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 80 radio adaptations in a series of a series of Sherlock Holmes radio dramas (opp ...

Mary Wimbush Mary Wimbush (19 March 1924 – 31 October 2005) was an English actress whose career spanned sixty years. Active across film, television, theatre and radio, she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1969 film ...

Norman Shelley Norman Shelley (16 February 1903 – 21 August 1980) was a British actor, best known for his work in radio, in particular for the BBC's ''Children's Hour''. He also had a recurring role as Colonel Danby in the long-running radio soap opera ''Th ...

and

Marjorie Westbury Marjorie Westbury (18 June 1905 – 16 December 1989) was an English radio actress and singer. Her career lasted for more than fifty years. Born in Oldbury, Worcestershire, she studied Voice at the Royal College of Music in London between 1927 ...

among the cast, and with music by

Anthony Bernard Anthony Bernard (25 January 18916 April 1963) was an English conductor, organist, pianist and composer. Early life Anthony Bernard's birth was registered as Alan Charles Butler in West Ham, then classified as Essex, in early 1891. His mother wa ...

; it was re-broadcast in 1951, 1957 and 1974. Lucas also gave BBC Third Programme talks on Euripides, and introduced selected readings from ''The Bacchae'' in Greek on the BBC,

George Rylands George Humphrey Wolferstan Rylands (23 October 1902 – 16 January 1999), known as Dadie Rylands, was a British literary scholar and theatre director. Rylands was born at the Down House, Tockington, Gloucestershire, to Thomas Kirkland Ry ...

being one of the performers.

Bletchley Park

From 1939 to October 1944, Lucas served in the Mansion, Hut 5, and Block B(N) at

, till late 1943 as senior Cryptanalyst in the Italian sub-section of the Naval Section, and from late 1943 in Naval Section V, as Head of Japanese naval crypto-intelligence.

Personal life

In 1933 Lucas married Mary Cohen. They lived in

Grantchester Grantchester () is a village and civil parish on the River Cam or Granta (river), Granta in South Cambridgeshire, England. It lies about south of Cambridge. Name The village of Grantchester is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Granteset ...

, Cambridgeshire. D. W. Lucas was the brother of

F. L. Lucas Frank Laurence Lucas (28 December 1894 – 1 June 1967) was an English Classics, classical scholar, literary critic, poet, novelist, playwright, political polemicist, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and intelligence officer at Bletchley Pa ...

Works

* '' 'The Bacchae' of Euripides. The Greek text as performed at Cambridge at the New Theatre, 4–8 March 1930, by members of the University, together with an English prose translation by D. W. Lucas; Prefatory Note by J. T. Sheppard'' (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1930) * '' 'The Frogs' of Aristophanes. The Greek text as arranged for performance at Cambridge, March 1936. With an English translation by D. W. Lucas & F. J. A.'' rancis Julian Alford''Cruso'' (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1936; reprinted 1947) * '' 'The Medea' of Euripides, translated into English Prose with Introduction and Notes'' (Cohen & West, London, 1949) * '' 'The Ion' of Euripides, translated into English Prose with Introduction and Notes'' (Cohen & West, London, 1949) * '' 'The Electra' of Euripides, translated into English Prose with Introduction and Notes'' (Cohen & West, London, 1951) * '' 'The Alcestis' of Euripides, translated into English Prose with Introduction and Notes'' (Cohen & West, London, 1951) * '' 'The Agamemnon' of Aeschylus. The Greek text, performed at Cambridge by the members of the University in February 1953. With a Verse Translation by Sir John Sheppard and an Introduction by D. W. Lucas'' (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1952)Mason, P. G., review in ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', 74, 1954, p. 196, journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage= Online & aid = 8672880 & fileId = S0075426900079441 (online) * '' 'The Bacchae' of Euripides. The Greek text performed at Cambridge at the Arts Theatre, 20–24 February 1956, by members of the University, with an English prose translation by D. W. Lucas'' (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1955) * '' The Greek Tragic Poets'' (Cohen & West, London, 1950; 2nd edn., substantially revised and rewritten, 1959); a study, with notes and chronological tables * 'Euripides' in ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970) * ''Aristotle, 'Poetics' '': Greek text, Latin apparatus, with introduction, commentary, appendices in English, & bibliography (Oxford, 1968; revised 1972; paperback 1980)

Notes

References

External links

* Philpapers
Index of essays and reviews by D. W. Lucas
* Photo portrait of D. W. Lucas by Ramsey and Muspratt, Cambridge: loftyimages.co.u

reproduced in Richard Deacon, ''The Cambridge Apostles'' (London, 1985), opp. p. 54 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, D. W. 1905 births 1985 deaths English classical scholars People educated at Rugby School Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Bletchley Park people Translators of Ancient Greek texts Academics from London People from Grantchester 20th-century British translators