Stephen Medcalf
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Stephen Ellis Medcalf (15 November 1936 – 17 September 2007) was a reader in English in the School of European Studies,
University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...
, from its inception in 1963 to retirement in 2005. An academic and scholar of classics and European literature, he once alerted authorities to an abandoned newborn baby in a telephone box. Medcalf was a student of
Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her fi ...
, friend of Anthony Nuttall, colleague of
Gabriel Josipovici Gabriel David Josipovici ( ; born 8 October 1940) is a British novelist, short story writer, critic, literary theorist, and playwright. He is an Emeritus professor, after having been Professor at the University of Sussex. Biography He was bor ...
and teacher of novelist
Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan (born 21 June 1948) is a British novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of the ...
. Obituaries appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Times, and Church Times.


Biography

Stephen Medcalf was born on 15 November 1936 in
Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...
, Essex, the youngest of four children. His father was an English and French master at
Hackney Downs School Hackney Downs School was an 11–16 boys, community comprehensive secondary school in Lower Clapton, Greater London, England. It was established in 1876 and closed in 1995. It has been replaced by the Mossbourne Community Academy. History ...
who had taught
Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...
. Evacuated to
Bury St Edmonds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...
during the Second World War, Medcalf was later educated at
Chigwell School Chigwell School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school. It is a private school in Chigwell, in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It consists of a Pre Prep (ages 4–7), Prep School (ages 7–11), Senior School (ages 11–16 ...
before going to
Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor ...
, Oxford to study
classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
. Early in his time at Oxford he met Tony Nuttall who was to become a lifelong friend, and the pair changed their studies to English Literature and were tutored by
Hugo Dyson Henry Victor Dyson Dyson (7 April 1896 – 6 June 1975), generally known as Hugo Dyson and who signed his writings H. V. D. Dyson, was an English academic and a member of the Inklings literary group. He was a committed Christian, and together w ...
and taught by
Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her fi ...
among others. After graduating with a
BLitt BLitt may refer to: * Bachelor of Letters, a second bachelor's degree awarded in Australia, Brazil, UK, and US * Bachelor of Literature, the statutory bachelor's degree in literature studies awarded in China {{Disam ...
, Medcalf spent a year teaching at
Malvern School Malvern College is a fee-charging coeducational boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school in the British sense of the term and is a member of the Rugby Group and of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses ...
before joining Tony Nuttall at the newly founded
University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...
. Taking up his post as an assistant lecturer in the School of European Studies, Medcalf thrived in the multi-disciplinary approach fostered by
David Daiches David Daiches (2 September 1912 – 15 July 2005) was a Scottish literary historian and literary critic, scholar and writer. He wrote extensively on English literature, Scottish literature and Scottish culture. Early life He was born in Sunde ...
,
Asa Briggs Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs (7 May 1921 – 15 March 2016) was an English historian. He was a leading specialist on the Victorian era, and the foremost historian of broadcasting in Britain. Briggs achieved international recognition during his lon ...
and
Martin Wight Robert James Martin Wight (26 November 1913 – 15 July 1972) was one of the foremost British scholars of international relations in the twentieth century, and one of the most profound thinkers on international theory of his generation. He was t ...
. Rising to the position of reader in English, Medcalf taught both arts and science students as well as reviewing and writing about authors such as G.K. Chesterton,
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 ...
,
Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...
,
C.S. Lewis CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...
,
Owen Barfield Arthur Owen Barfield (9 November 1898 – 14 December 1997) was an English philosopher, author, poet, critic, and member of the Inklings. Life Barfield was born in London, to Elizabeth (née Shoults; 1860–1940) and Arthur Edward Barfield (186 ...
,
Charles Williams (British writer) Charles Walter Stansby Williams (20 September 1886 – 15 May 1945) was an English poet, novelist, playwright, theologian and literary critic. Most of his life was spent in London, where he was born, but in 1939 he moved to Oxford with the univ ...
and
William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel '' Lord of the Flies'' (1954), Golding published another 12 volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 19 ...
, composing long articles for
The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
, as well as taking a holistic interest in the later middle ages, that culminated in ''The Later Middle Ages (1981)'' a collaboration between historians and art historians together with essays of his own. Medcalf's memory and his intellect were admired by his colleagues and friends, Gabriel Josipovici wrote:
Not only could he recite reams of poetry in Greek, Latin, English and Anglo-Saxon, and whole stories by Kipling and PG Wodehouse, but - and this is what really marked him out - whatever he said about literature immediately struck one as true, fresh and profound. I can hardly recall an occasion when I left his company without feeling that I had seen something I had previously overlooked, and that life and the world were the better for it.
Medcalf never became a professor, perhaps due to his limited written output and that his magnum opus, a study of the development of T.S. Eliot's mind, was never completed. In Medcalf's early years at Sussex University his students included
Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan (born 21 June 1948) is a British novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of the ...
, who spurred Medcalf in later life to write a Guardian Christmas story in 2003. The true story, described as a "modern fairy tale" tells how Medcalf had found in a Lewes telephone box, a newborn baby girl crying inside a paper bag. The story ends with a "epiphanic" meeting in a Lewes restaurant between Medcalf and the girl, now grown up. Medcalf spent forty years at the University of Sussex and retired in 2002. He remained a bachelor and was a devoted Christian and lay preacher who frequently spent time in religious retreat, and organised a popular annual University Christmas Carol service. Medcalf died at
Littlehampton Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south south-west of London, west of Brighton and ...
, West Sussex on 17 September 2007.


Selected works

* ''William Golding (Writers & Their Work S.) (1975)'' * ''The Later Middle Ages'' (1981) * ''Poems for All Purposes: Selected Poems of G.K. Chesterton (1994)'' * ''A Light in the Darkness'' (2003) * ''The Spirit of England - Selected Essays of Stephen Medcalf'' (2010) (posthumously published collection)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medcalf, Stephen 1936 births 2007 deaths Academics of the University of Sussex Alumni of Merton College, Oxford