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John E. Sharwood Smith OBE DFC MA (1919 [1] -2007 [2] ) was an English professor of Classics who wrote numerous books on classics and learning classics.
His father, Edward Sharwood Smith, was a headmaster, most notably of Newbury Grammar School (now St. Bartholomew's School) who influenced his son's love of the classics. [3]
John was awarded a scholarship in Classics to Jesus College Cambridge and started his degree in 1938. His studies were interrupted when he was called up in 1939 and following his older brother Bryan Sharwood-Smith he joined the RAF. He was trained to fly in the USA, completing a pilot training course at Lakeland Army Airfield, Florida. He was subsequently sent to fly first Wellington bombers and then Mosquito fighters in the WWII Burma campaign. He finished the war as an acting Squadron Leader and was awarded the DFC. When asked why, he typically replied, 'for surviving'.
Resuming his studies, he completed his degree and pursued an academic career in teaching classics. He was one of the key founders of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers. [4] and instrumental in the launch of the JACT Greek summer school in 1968. [5] For the following twelve years, he was the editor of JACT's magazine Didaskalos , writing for it several times. [6] [2] Following this, he wrote numerous books on classics and teaching classics, including On Teaching Classics (1977) [4] and Greece and the Persians (1989). [1] He believed heavily in teaching classics in a way that would help student live their lives; by asking questions about how the world worked, students can understand "the choices perennially open to human beings and human societies in the conduct of their affairs." [7] He was awarded an OBE for services to Education in 1980.
After his retirement, he resided in Painswick with his wife until his death. [2] During this time he wrote three volumes of personal reminiscences including 'The Message in the Bottle' (2000) about his wartime experiences.
Speaking about him after his death, John's son, Nick Sharwood Smith, described him as "an excellent speaker" and that he always had "a desire to understand himself better." [3]
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Sir William Smith was an English lexicographer. He became known for his advances in the teaching of Greek and Latin in schools.
Literae humaniores, nicknamed Greats, is an undergraduate course focused on classics at the University of Oxford and some other universities. The Latin name means literally "more human literature" and was in contrast to the other main field of study when the university began, i.e. res divinae, also known as theology. Lit. hum., is concerned with human learning, and lit. div. with learning treating of God. In its early days, it encompassed mathematics and natural sciences as well. It is an archetypal humanities course.
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Edward Musgrave Blaiklock was chair of classics at the University of Auckland from 1947 to 1968, and champion of Christian apologetic literature in New Zealand from the 1950s until his death in 1983.
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James Henry Weldon Morwood was an English classicist and author. He taught at Harrow School, where he was Head of Classics, and at Oxford University, where he was a Fellow of Wadham College, and also Dean. He wrote almost thirty books, ranging from biography to translations and academic studies of Classical literature.
George Ewart Bean was an English archaeologist and writer who specialized in classical Turkey. His father William Jackson Bean was a botanist, author, and curator of Kew Gardens. Bean was educated at St Paul's School, London from 1916 to 1921. He attended Pembroke College, Cambridge and won the Schoolbred Scholarship and the John Stewart of Rannoch Scholarship for Classics.
Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh was an English academic and schoolmaster, known as classical scholar and translator.
Peter John Parsons, was a British classicist and academic specialising in papyrology. He was Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford from 1989 to 2003.
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John Greenfield Hawthorne was an English and American archaeologist and academic. He was known for his works on Greek literature, and translations, and in 1963 published, with Cyril Stanley Smith, a translation of the works on metallurgy by Theophilus.
Carol Margaret Handley was a British educator who was headmistress of Camden School for Girls (1971–1985) and president of the Classical Association (1996–1997). Handley was later a classics tutor at Wolfson College, Cambridge. Handley is known for her longstanding advocacy for Classics education in schools and universities, as well as for her work on teaching and examination materials for the Joint Association of Classical Teachers and for the University of Cambridge.
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John Philip Algernon Gould, was a British classical scholar. He specialised in Greek tragedy, but also had wider interests in ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek religion and anthropology. He began his academic career as a research fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge (1949–1953), and then a tutor and student at Christ Church, Oxford (1954–1968). He was Chair of Classics at the University College of Swansea from 1968 to 1974, and the H O Wills Professor of Greek at the University of Bristol from 1974 to 1991.
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