Angus Calder

The Honourable Angus Calder
Angus Calder, picturedc. 1970
Born	Angus Lindsay Ritchie Calder (1942-02-05)5 February 1942 London,England
Died	5 June 2008(2008-06-05)(aged 66) Edinburgh,Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Alma mater	King's College, Cambridge University of Sussex
Occupation	Academic
Parent(s)	Peter Ritchie Calder Mabel Jane Forbes McKail
Relatives	Nigel Calder(brother) Simon Calder(nephew)

Angus Lindsay Ritchie Calder(5 February 1942 – 5 June 2008) was a Scottish writer, historian, and poet. Initially studying English literature, he became increasingly interested inpolitical historyand wrote a landmark study on Britain during theSecond World Warin 1969 entitledThe People's War.He subsequently wrote several other historical works but became increasingly interested in literature and poetry and worked primarily as a writer, though often holding a number of university teaching positions. Asocialist,he was a prominent Scottishpublic intellectualduring the 1970s and 1980s.

Early life

Angus Calder was born inLondonon 5 February 1942 into a prominentleft-wingfamily fromScotland.His father wasRitchie Calder(1906–1982), a notedsocialistandpacifistwho became famous for his work as ajournalistandscience writer.His siblings areNigel Calder,mathematician Allan Calder, educationist Isla Calder (1946–2000) and teacher Fiona Rudd (née Calder). His nephew is travel writer and journalistSimon Calder.

Angus Calder read English literature atKing's College, Cambridge.He gained a doctorate from theUniversity of Sussexin 1968 onpolitics in the United KingdomduringWorld War II,entitled "The Common Wealth Party, 1942–45" which studied thepolitical party of the same name.At the time, academic research into the conflict was rare as government papers were not available under thefifty-year rule.As a result, Calder worked closely withPaul Addison,another historian with similar research interests.Together Addison and Calder made extensive use of the newly discovered archives ofMass-Observationto examine British public opinion. Calder was instrumental in creating the Mass-Observation Archive at Sussex in 1970, in collaboration withAsa Briggs.

The People's War

Calder had been commissioned to write a general history of theBritish Home Frontby the publisherJonathan Capewhile still working on his PhD thesis. This led toThe People's War,first published in 1969. The work was academic in tone and ranged widely across the political and social history of the period. It was critical of enduring propaganda myths without being polemic, and was extremely successful. It has subsequently been described as "groundbreaking".As Addison summarised:

In order to wage the war, Angus argued, the prewar ruling class had been compelled to mobilize the people. During the first half of the war they had effectively displaced their former rulers and taken charge of the war themselves. It became the People's War, a 'ferment of participatory democracy', exemplified by the way in which Londoners, acting in defiance of the government, had turned underground tube stations into deep shelters. During the second half of the war, however, the 'forces of wealth, bureaucracy and privilege' began to regroup and recover the authority they had lost.

The People's Warwas well received and won theJohn Llewellyn Rhys Prize,aliterary award.Though its thesis was not widely adopted in academia, it proved extremely influential aspopular history.Richard Eyresaid that he "could name about twenty works, films, television and theatre which have emerged essentially from Angus Calder's book".Among those who were said to have been influenced by the work were the playwrightDavid Hareand future prime ministerGordon Brown.It remains in print.

Calder increasingly began to doubt his own thesis over the following decades. Many of his original conclusions were revised in hisThe Myth of the Blitz(1991). According to Addison, this reassessment was encouraged by Calder's revulsion with thejingoistic nationalismwhich accompanied theFalklands War of 1982andThatcherism.Both were partly inspired by thecollective memoryof the "People's War" which Calder had himself popularised.

Literature and poetry

Following his success withThe People's War,Calder increasingly returned to his interests inliteratureand poetry. In 1971, he moved toEdinburghwhere he publishedRussia Discovered,a survey of 19th-century Russian fiction in 1976, and, three years later, became staff tutor in arts with theOpen University.He subsequently taught all over the world, lecturing in literature at several African universities and serving from 1981 to 1987 as co-editor of theJournal of Commonwealth Literature.

Calder became a ubiquitous figure on theScottish literaryscene writing essays and articles, books onByronandT. S. Eliot,and working as editor of collections of poetry and prose. He also wrote introductions to new publications of such diverse works asGreat Expectations,Walter Scott'sOld Mortality,T. E. Lawrence'sSeven Pillars of Wisdom,Evelyn Waugh'sSword of Honourtrilogy andJames Boswell'sThe Life of Samuel Johnson. In 1981 he publishedRevolutionary Empire(1981), a study of three centuries of imperial development by English speakers to the end of the 18th century.Revolving Culture: Notes from the Scottish Republicis a collection of essays onScottish topicswhich expressed itself through the writings of such figures asRobert Burnsand Scott and in gestures ofrealpolitiksuch as the repression of "Jacobins"during theFrench Revolution.In 1984 Calder helped to set up theScottish Poetry Libraryin Edinburgh and served as its first convener. He also worked as an editor ofHugh MacDiarmid's prose.Calder won theEric Gregory Awardfor his poetry.

Politics

A nationalist and socialist, he moved from theScottish National Party(SNP) to theScottish Socialist Party,and though he cherished theScottish republicanspirit, he sought to challenge some of the popular myths surrounding the country's sense of national identity. InRevolving Culture: Notes from a Scottish republic(1992) he described the development, during the early stages of theUnion with England,of an "intellectual republic" forged by a combination of insularity and lack of English interest in Scottish affairs.In 1997 he editedTime to Kill — the Soldier's Experience of War in the West 1939–1945withPaul Addison;Scotlands of the Mind(2002);Disasters and Heroes: On War, Memory and Representation(2004); andGods, Mongrels and Demons: 101 Brief but Essential Lives(2004), a collection of potted biographies of "creatures who have extended my sense of the potentialities, both comic and tragic, of human nature". He had always published verse and won a Gregory Award for his poetry in 1967. Questions ofScottish national identityassumed growing importance in the 1980s, and Calder became active in the debate. A distinctive "Scottish social ethos" informed the activities of prominent Scots in the years of Empire, when they had invested heavily in the concept ofBritishness,although he reportedly felt that the Scots had meddled much more overweeningly with the English sense of identity than the English ever did with the Scots. He was delighted to discover that the game ofcrickethadbeen introduced to Sri Lankaby a Scot.

Personal life

His first wife wasJennifer Daiches,daughter of Scottish literary criticDavid Daiches,with whom Calder collaborated on a book about Sir Walter Scott in 1969.The Calders had two daughters, Rachel and Gowan, and a son, Gideon. His first marriage ended in 1982; he married Kate Kyle in 1986, with whom he had a son, Douglas, born in 1989. He took early retirement from the Open University in 1995.

Death

Calder died fromlung canceron 5 June 2008, aged 66.In the closing weeks of his life, the poetRichard Berengarten,together with his son Gideon Calder edited acollection of writing and sketchesfor and about him, which appeared just after his death.

Selected bibliography

History and literary criticism

• The People's War: Britain, 1939–45.London: Jonathan Cape, 1969.
• Scott,with Jenni Calder. London: Evans, 1969.
• Russia Discovered: Nineteenth Century Fiction from Pushkin to Chekhov.London: Heinemann, 1976.
• Revolutionary Empire: The Rise of the English-Speaking Empires from the Fifteenth Century to the 1780s.London: Jonathan Cape, 1981.
• T. S. Eliot.Brighton: Harvester, 1987.
• Byron.Buckingham: Open University Press, 1987.
• The Myth of the Blitz.London: Jonathan Cape, 1991.
• Revolving Culture.London: I.B. Tauris, 1994.
• Scotlands of the Mind.Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2002.
• Disasters and Heroes: On War, Memory and Representation.Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2004.
• Gods, Mongrels and Demons: 101 Brief but Essential Lives.London: Bloomsbury, 2004.

Poetry

• Waking in Waikato.Edinburgh: diehard, 1997.
• Horace in Tollcross: Eftir some odes of Q. H. Flaccus.Newtyle: Kettilonia, 2000.
• Colours of Grief.Nottingham: Shoestring, 2002.
• Dipa's Bowl.London: Aark Arts, 2004.
• Sun Behind the Castle: Edinburgh Poems.Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2004.

Edited collections: poetry and prose

• Britain at War, 1942.London: Jonathan Cape, 1973.
• (withAndrew Gurr)Writers in East Africa.Nairobi:East African Literature Bureau,1974.
• (withJack MapanjeandCosmo Pieterse).Summer Fires: New Poetry of Africa.London: Heinemann, 1983.
• (with Gabriele Bok)Englische Lyrik 1900–1980.Leipzig: Reclam, 1983.
• (with Dorothy Sheridan)Speak for Yourself: A Mass Observation Anthology.London: Jonathan Cape, 1984.
• Byron and Scotland: Radical or Dandy?,Edinburgh University Press,1989,ISBN9780852246511.
• (with William Donnelly)Selected PoetrybyRobert Burns.Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991.
• (with John M. Mackenzie and Jeanne Cannizzo)David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa.London: National Portrait Gallery, 1996.
• (with Paul Addison)Time to Kill: The Soldier's Experience of War in the West, 1939–45.London: Pimlico, 1997.
• (with Glen Murray and Alan Riach)The Rauchle Tongue: Selected Essays, Journalism and Interviews by Hugh MacDiarmid(3 vols). Manchester: Carcanet, 1997–98.
• Wars.Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1999.
• Selected PoemsbyLouis Stevenson.Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1999.
• (with Beth Junor)The Souls of the Dead are Taking the Best Seats: 50 World Poets on War.Edinburgh: Luath Press, Edinburgh, 2005.

Introductions

• Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1965.
• Faces at the Crossroadsed. Chris Wanjala. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau, 1971.
• Old Mortalityby Walter Scott. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975.
• The Seven Pillars of WisdombyT. E. Lawrence.Ware: Wordsworth, 1999.
• The Life of Samuel Johnsonby James Boswell. Ware: Wordsworth, 1999.
• Sword of Honourby Evelyn Waugh. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2001.
• The Devil's DictionarybyAmbrose Bierce,illustrated by Ralph Steadman. London: Bloomsbury, 2003.
• The Thrie Estaitisby David Lindsay, ed. Alan Spence. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003.
• Sugar-Coated Pill: Selected Poemsby Mahmood Jamal. Edinburgh: Word Power, 2007.

Reviews

• Lenman, Bruce (1982), review ofRevolutionary Empire: The Rise of the English-Speaking Empires from the 15th Century to the 1780s,inCencrastusNo. 8, Spring 1982, p. 37,ISSN0264-0856

Anthologies

• (Contributor)Pax Edina: The One O' Clock Gun Anthology(Edinburgh, 2010)

Recorded readings and performances

• (Collaboration)From Dungeons to the Sky– Commissioned byAmnesty International(Scotland) for performance of 12 poems with music for Commonwealth Head of States visit to Edinburgh, 1996, at the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh. Readings by Angus and Gowan Calder, piano compositions and performance byDmytro Morykit.

Sources

• Addison, Paul(2010). "Angus Calder (1942-2008)".History Workshop Journal.70(70): 299–304.doi:10.1093/hwj/dbq037.JSTOR40981179.
• Crick, Bernard (10 June 2008)."Angus Calder".The Guardian.Retrieved6 December2018.
• Cameron, Sue (20 June 2008)."Historian who debunked second world war's myths".The Financial Times.Retrieved6 December2018.
• "Calder, Angus Lindsay Ritchie".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/99794.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)

External links

• ObituarybyBernard Crick,The Guardian,10 June 2008.
• Independent Onlineobituary
• The Herald(Obituary)
• The Scotsman(Obituary)
• The Independent(Obituary)
• The Daily Telegraph(Obituary)
• The Times(Obituary)
• Financial Times(Obituary)
• Times Higher Education(Obituary)