John Gross
(1971 Chair)
- Prizes judged
John Gross was an academic prodigy who became a pre-eminent man of letters. He was frequently - and quite probably accurately - described as ‘the best-read man in Britain’.
Gross was born in the East End of London to Jewish émigré parents and was admitted to Wadham College, Oxford at 17 (where he was awarded a first). As a writer he was responsible for the definitive analysis of the litterateur, The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters, and pioneering works on Shakespeare. He was editor of the Times Literary Supplement and wrote for numerous leading newspapers and journals. He also used his range of literary knowledge to good effect as the editor-anthologist of numerous iterations of The Oxford Book of…