Cyril Raymond Howard Shaw (born September 1934) is a British teacher and writer, specialising in crime fiction. He is a former head of history at
Harrow School
Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...
.
[''Betrayal in Burgundy''.]
Troubador. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
Life and career
Shaw was born in
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
in September 1934, and educated at
Taunton School
Taunton School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, now co-educational, in the county town of Taunton in Somerset in South West England. It serves boarding and day-school pupils from the ages of 13 to 18.
The current headmaster i ...
and at
Queen's College, Oxford, where he read modern history. He was commissioned in the
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
during his
national service
National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...
after which he taught at Harrow School from 1961-1997. In 1966, Shaw was elected a schoolmaster fellow of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
[
In 1968, Shaw produced ''The Levellers'' in the ]Seminar Studies in History
Seminar Studies in History is a book series for undergraduate and younger students that aims to bridge the gap between the monograph and the full size university textbook. The series was established in 1968 by history teacher Patrick Richardson, a ...
series. He has subsequently written a number of well-received works of mystery fiction, published initially under the pseudonym "Colin Howard", drawing on his knowledge of the English public school and the Oxford University college. ''Death of a Don'' (1982) was a Mystery Guild selection, and was later re-published in the U.K. in the Black Dagger Crime series. Of the book, Christopher Wordsworth commented "Cambridge may incubate the best traitors but Oxford can pride itself on fiction's best corpses".["Crime Ration", Christopher Wordsworth, '']The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', 21 February 1982, p. 33.
Selected publications
*''The Levellers''. Longman
Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publisher, publishing company founded in 1724 in London, England, which is owned by Pearson PLC.
Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman ...
, London, 1968. (Seminar Studies in History)
*''Killing No Murder''. Scribner, New York, 1981.
*''Death of a Don''. , London, 1982.
*''Thomas Hardy: An Autobiography in Verse''. Shepheard-Walwyn, 1984. (With Eliane Wilson)
*''Pageant of Death''. Offa Press, Harrow on the Hill, 2000.
*''Betrayal in Burgundy''. Matador, Leicester, 2013.
References
External links
Assistant Masters at Harrow School.
1934 births
Living people
British non-fiction writers
British writers
Schoolteachers from Somerset
People educated at Taunton School
Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford
Royal Artillery officers
Teachers at Harrow School
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