Michael De-la-Noy (3 April 1934 – 12 August 2002, born Michael Delanoy Walker) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 20 books, the most successful being ''The Queen Behind the Throne''. De-la-Noy was also noted for being fired in 1970 as press secretary to

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

Michael Ramsey Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury (14 November 1904 – 23 April 1988), was a British Anglican bishop and life peer. He served as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and ...

after writing an article in support of a bisexual and transvestite colonel, which was seen as too liberal for the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Biography

De-la-Noy was born in

Hessle Hessle () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, west of Kingston upon Hull. Geographically it is part of a larger urban area consisting of the city of Kingston upon Hull, the town of H ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, and grew up in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He was educated at

Bedford School Bedford School is a 7–18 Single-sex education, boys Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust. Bed ...

, although he ran away at the age of 13 though this did not prevent him from accepting a commission to write the school's official history in 1999.Jonathan Fryer
"Michael De-la-Noy" (obituary)
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 16 August 2002. Retrieved 16 January 2009. He worked as a reporter for two local papers, the ''Bedfordshire Times'' and the ''Brighton and Hove Herald'',"Michael De-la-Noy" (obituary)
''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'', 13 August 2002. before joining the employ of Anglican clergyman

Timothy Beaumont Timothy Wentworth Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley (22 November 1928 – 8 April 2008) was a British politician and an Anglican priest. He was politically active, successively, in the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party ...

. It was after this job that he went to work for Archbishop

, for whom De-la-Noy became press secretary in 1967. De-la-Noy's many books included biographies of

Denton Welch Maurice Denton Welch (29 March 1915 – 30 December 1948) was a British writer and painter, admired for his vivid prose and precise descriptions. Life Welch was born in Shanghai, China, to Arthur Joseph Welch, a wealthy British rubber merchant, ...

(''Denton Welch: The Making of a Writer'', 1984),

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

(''Elgar: The Man'', 1984),

the Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was also ...

(''The Queen Behind the Throne'', 1994),

Edward Sackville-West Edward Charles Sackville-West, 5th Baron Sackville (13 November 1901 – 4 July 1965) was a British music critic, novelist and, in his last years, a member of the House of Lords. Musically gifted as a boy, he was attracted as a young man to a li ...

(''Eddy: The Life of Edward Sackville-West'', 1988), and the Archbishop of Canterbury (''Michael Ramsey: A Portrait'', 1990), and other works such as ''The Honours System'' (1985) and ''Acting as Friends: The Story of the Samaritans'' (1987). De-la-Noy died of cancer at the age of 68; he was survived by his partner of 30 years Bruce Hodson.

Selected bibliography

* ''Denton Welch: The Making of a Writer'' (1984) * ''Elgar: The Man'' (1984) * ''The Honours System'' (1985) * ''Acting as Friends: The Story of the Samaritans'' (1987) * ''Eddy: The Life of Edward Sackville-West'' (1988) * ''Michael Ramsey: A Portrait'' (1990) * ''The Queen Behind the Throne'' (1994) * ''George IV'' (1998)

References

External links

* Jonathan Fryer
"Michael De-la-Noy" (obituary)
''The Guardian'', 16 August 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:De-la-noy, Michael 2002 deaths 1934 births English biographers Journalists from Yorkshire People educated at Bedford School People from Hessle Writers from the East Riding of Yorkshire