Ritchie Calder

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Lord Temporal
In office
5 July 1966 – 31 January 1982
Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Peter Ritchie Calder

(1906-07-01)1 July 1906
Forfar, Scotland
Died31 January 1982(1982-01-31) (aged 75)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Spouse
Mabel McKail
​
(m. 1927)​
Children5 (including Nigel and Angus)
RelativesSimon Calder (grandson)
EducationForfar Academy
Occupation
  • Author
  • journalist
  • academic
AwardsKalinga Prize (1960)

Peter Ritchie Ritchie-Calder, Baron Ritchie-Calder

CBE (né
 Calder; 1 July 1906 – 31 January 1982), was a Scottish socialist writer, journalist and academic.

Early life

Peter Ritchie Calder was born on 1 July 1906 in Forfar, Scotland, the youngest of four children of David Lindsay Calder, a linen worker, and Georgina Ritchie, the daughter of a master mason. He was educated at Forfar Academy, leaving the school at the age of 16.[1]

Career

Calder first worked as a

peace activist; as science editor of the News Chronicle
, he wrote under the name of 'Ritchie Calder'.

After moving to London before World War II, he accepted an appointment as the director of plans and campaigns at the Political Warfare Executive branch of the Government, which was responsible for the allied war propaganda effort. He wrote propaganda posters and leaflets and speeches for allied leaders. He was a member of the 1941 Committee, a group of liberal politicians, writers and other people of influence in the United Kingdom. In 1941 he became popular with his book Carry on London, which described the effects of the German bombardment of London, Coventry and other cities in Great Britain.

After the war Calder returned to his former activities as a writer and specialised in

public understanding of science. He worked also with the United Nations and was president of the National Peace Council and of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
. He also worked for the News Chronicle newspaper as science editor.

Sir

Guy's Hospital Medical School in London on Thursday 14 May 1953, which resulted in an article by Ritchie Calder in the News Chronicle
on Friday 15 May 1953, entitled "Why You Are You. Nearer Secret of Life".

Calder was an ardent peace activist and

Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science
.

While employed at the

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1945 New Year Honours.[4]

He received a life peerage in the 1966 Birthday Honours.[5] With a change of his surname to Ritchie-Calder,[6] he was created Baron Ritchie-Calder, of Balmashanner in the Royal Burgh of Forfar on 5 July 1966.[7]

Personal life

Lord Ritchie-Calder and his wife Mabel Jane Forbes McKail had five children:

science writer Nigel Calder (1931-2014); writer and historian Angus Calder (1942-2008); mathematician Allan Calder; educationist Isla Calder (1946-2000) and teacher Fiona Rudd (née Calder). He was also the grandfather of travel writer Simon Calder
and the actor, writer and comedienne Gowan Calder.

Death

Calder died on 31 January 1982, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

See also

Sources

  • Trevor I. Williams, ‘Calder, Peter Ritchie, Baron Ritchie-Calder (1906–1982)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2012 accessed 17 July 2013
  • Author and Bookinfo.Com

References

  1. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30891. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^ "Humanist Manifesto II". American Humanist Association. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  3. Journal of the Royal Society of Arts
    . 130 (5308): 227–228. March 1982. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  4. ^ "No. 36866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1945. p. 26.
  5. ^ "No. 44004". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 1966. p. 6529.
  6. ^ "No. 18467". The Edinburgh Gazette. 21 June 1966. p. 496.
  7. ^ "No. 44048". The London Gazette. 8 July 1966. p. 7719.

External links

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