Anthony Curtis: letters from William Golding and A.L. Rowse

This material is held atUniversity of Exeter Archives

Scope and Content

Twenty five letters and manuscript reviews from A L Rowse to Anthony and Sarah Curtis dated July 1982 to February 1992 (some letters undated).

Forty one letters and twelve postcards from William Golding to Anthony Curtis dated November 1980 - July 1993. These include chess games played by post on special cards, postcards and letters.

Copies of the obituaries of Anthony Curtis in The Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent

Administrative / Biographical History

Anthony Curtis (1926-2014) was a literary journalist and a leading authority on Somerset Maugham. He was Literary Editor of the Sunday Telegraph for 10 years (1960-70) and of the Financial Times for 20 years (1970-89). During those years, both William Golding and A L Rowse contributed to his book pages and became family friends. He was a very keen chess player as evident in the correspondence with William Golding Curtis started freelance reviewing at the end of the Second World War, then worked for the Times Literary Supplement, going on to win a Harkness Scholarship, studying literary reviewing in the United States for a year. After a brief return to the Times Literary Supplement he became literary editor of the Sunday Telegraph on its foundation. Curtis moved on to The Financial Times, as arts and literary editor, then as literary editor, becoming chief reviewer until his retirement in 1994. He also wrote theatre criticism for the London Magazine and worked as a broadcaster for Radio 3 and 4., In 1960, he married Sarah Myers, an authority on juvenile justice and the editor of Woodrow Wyatt's diaries. They had three sons. Source: The Telegraph Obituaries 27 Aug 2014

Access Information

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Other Finding Aids

Lists of letters available on request.

Conditions Governing Use

Usual EUL restrictions apply.