Noel Annan, Baron Annan
The Lord Annan | |
|---|---|
 Annan in January 1957. | |
| Born | 25 December 1916 |
| Died | 21 February 2000 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | King's College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | British military intelligence officer, author, and academic |
Noel Gilroy Annan, Baron Annan OBE (25 December 1916 – 21 February 2000) was a British military intelligence officer, author, and academic. During his military career, he rose to the rank of colonel and was appointed to the Order of the British Empire as an Officer (OBE). He was provost of King's College, Cambridge, 1956–66, provost of University College London, 1966–78, vice-chancellor of the University of London, and a member of the House of Lords.
Annan's publications include Leslie Stephen (1951)—awarded the
Early life and education
Annan was born in Gloucester Terrace, London, and was educated at St. Winnifred's School, Seaford in East Sussex, and Stowe School.[2] At Stowe, he was head of Temple House, and editor of the school newspaper The Stoic. He went up to King's College, Cambridge,[2] in 1935, where he read history, then continued for a fourth year to read law. While at King's, he was recruited into the Cambridge Apostles, a secret debating society whose members included Guy Burgess and Michael Straight, who later became spies for the Soviet Union (see Cambridge Five).[3]
Military career
In October 1940, he entered officer cadet training, and in January 1941 was commissioned in the Intelligence Corps and posted to
Academic career
Annan returned to King's in 1946, where he had been elected to a fellowship in absentia in 1944 at the unusually young age of 28.[2] He joined the economics faculty and lectured in politics.
In June 1950, he married the author and critic Gabriele Ullstein, and they had two daughters – Lucy (born 1952) and Juliet (born 1955).
He was elected Provost of King's in 1956. In 1966, he took up the post of Provost of University College London, then from 1978 until 1981, was Vice-Chancellor of the University of London – the first person to take on the role full-time.
He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the
Committees
He acted as a trustee of the
Bibliography
- Leslie Stephen: His Thought and Character in Relation to His Time. London: MacGibbon & Kee. 1951.
- The Curious Strength of Positivism in English Political Thought. London: Oxford University Press. 1959.
- Roxburgh of Stowe: The Life of J. F. Roxburgh and His Influence in the Public Schools. London: Longmans. 1965.
- The Disintegration of an Old Culture. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1966.
- How ISBN 0-85457-116-7.
- Leslie Stephen: The Godless Victorian (rev. ed.). London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 1984. ISBN 0-297-78369-6.
- Our Age: Portrait of a Generation. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 1990. ISBN 0-297-81129-0.
- Changing Enemies: The Defeat and Regeneration of Germany. London: HarperCollins. 1995. ISBN 0-00-255629-4.
- The Dons: Mentors, Eccentrics and Geniuses. HarperCollins. 1999. ISBN 0-00-257074-2.
Annan was a signatory to a famous letter published in The Times in 1958 which precipitated the establishment of the Homosexual Law Reform Society, which campaigned for homosexual law reform. (See Patrick Higgins, Heterosexual Dictatorship: Male Homosexuality in Post-War Britain, London: Fourth Estate Ltd; 1996, p. 125.)
See also
- List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London
References
- ^ "Robert Fulford's column about Oxford and Cambridge dons". The National Post. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
- ^ a b c d e "Lord Annan". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
- ISBN 978-0521572132. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
- ^ "No. 37598". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 1946. p. 2769.
- ^ "No. 43713". The London Gazette. 16 July 1965. p. 6729.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
Further reading
- Lord Noel Gilroy Annan, memorial booklet published by King's College, Cambridge, 2001.
- Portraits of Annan, National Portrait Gallery
- The Papers of Noel Gilroy Annan, Janus, Cambridge
- "Oxford and Cambridge dons", National Post, 2 May 2005
- Baron Annan, Senate House Library archives, University of London
- "A reputation of merit – Michael Young: Social Entrepreneur" by John Gray, New Statesman, 15 October 2001
- Appearance on Desert Island Discs - 4 November 1990
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
