John Robert McCrum (born 7 July 1953) is an English writer and

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

who held senior editorial positions at

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

over seventeen years, followed by a long association with ''

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'' ...

''.

Early life and education

The son of Michael William McCrum, a

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

-educated

ancient historian Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term "historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific to ...

, Robert McCrum was born in Cambridge on 7 July 1953. He was educated at

Sherborne School Sherborne School is a full-boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 located beside Sherborne Abbey in the Dorset town of Sherborne. The school has been in continuous operation on the same site for over 1,300 years. It was founded in 705 AD by Ald ...

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

(MA (Cantab)), and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

as a Thouron Scholar.

Career

McCrum was editorial director at

from 1979 to 1989 and editor-in-chief there from 1990 to 1996. He served as

literary editor A literary editor is a editor responsible for refining and overseeing the quality of written content in a newspaper, magazine or other publication. Literary editor deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews. A literary ...

of ''

'' for more than ten years. In May 2008 he was appointed associate editor of ''The Observer''. McCrum is the co-author of '' The Story of English'' with William Cran and Robert MacNeil and wrote ''

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...

: A Life''. McCrum's novel ''Suspicion'' was published in 1997. McCrum received an honorary doctorate from

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

in 2011. In August 2017, McCrum's ''Every Third Thought: On life, death and the endgame'' was published, taking its title from

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's play ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

''. The book was adapted and broadcast as

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

Book of the Week ''Book of the Week'' is a long-running BBC Radio 4 series, first broadcast in 1998. It features daily readings from an abridged version of a selected book read over five or occasionally ten weekday episodes. Each episode is approximately 15 min ...

'' the following month.

Personal life

In July 1995, McCrum suffered a massive stroke. The devastating experience and his recovery is chronicled in ''My Year Off: Recovering Life After a Stroke''. He had been married to

Sarah Lyall Sarah Lambert Lyall is an American journalist who has long written for ''The New York Times'', currently as a writer at large and including an 18-year period as the paper's London correspondent. Biography Raised in New York City, Lyall attended t ...

, an American journalist, for only two months, and the book includes diary entries made by his wife. He also became a patron of the UK charity Different Strokes, which provides information and support for younger stroke survivors. Lyall, who writes for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', lived in London from 1995 to 2013 and was the newspaper's London correspondent. She returned to New York with the couple's daughters in 2013; Lyall and McCrum later divorced. McCrum describes himself as "a confused non-believer".

Bibliography

Fiction

* ''In the Secret State''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980. * ''A Loss of Heart''. 1982 * ''The Fabulous Englishman'' UK: Hamish Hamilton Ltd, 1984. * ''Mainland''. New York: Knopf, 1991. * ''The Psychological Moment''. London: Martin Secker & Warburg, 1993. * ''Jubilee''. New York: Knopf, 1994. * ''Suspicion''. New York: Norton, 1997.

Non-fiction

* ''The Story of English''. New York: Elisabeth Sifton, 1986. (With William Cran and Robert MacNeil) * ''My Year Off: Recovering Life After a Stroke''. New York: Norton, 1998. * ''P. G. Wodehouse: A Life''. New York: Norton, 2004. * ''Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language''. New York: Norton, 2010. * ''The 100 Best Novels in English''. London: Galileo, 2015. * ''Every Third Thought: On Life, Death and the Endgame''. London: Picador, 2017. * ''The 100 Best Non Fiction Books of All Time''. London: Galileo, 2018. * ''Shakespearean''. New York London: Pegasus Books, 2021.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCrum, Robert 1953 births Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge English book editors British literary editors Living people People educated at Sherborne School Place of birth missing (living people)