Felix Barker

Felix Barker
Born	Richard Felix Raine Barker 7 May 1917 London,England
Died	11 July 1997(1997-07-11)(aged 80)
Alma mater	Felsted School Choate Rosemary Hall
Occupation(s)	Journalist, drama critic, historian
Spouse	Anthea Francis Gotch ​ ​ (m.1950)​
Children	2
Parent(s)	Anthony Raine Barker Patricia Russell

Richard Felix Raine Barker(7 May 1917 – 11 July 1997) was an English journalist, dramacriticandhistorian.He is known for having been the youngest dramatic critic onFleet Street.

Biography

Barker was born inLondonon the 7th of May 1917,the son ofarchitectAnthony Raine Barkerand his wife, photographer Patricia Russell.He was educated atFelsted Schoolbefore attending theChoate SchoolinConnecticutas part of astudent exchange program.He married Anthea Francis Gotch in 1950.Felix Barker died on 11 July 1997.

Career

Barker began his career in his late teens reporting for theEvening News.Two well-received pieces, one on school life and the other on the 1936Crystal Palace fire,earned him a weekly column as the paper's amateur drama critic at the age of 19, making him the youngest dramatic critic working onFleet Street.DuringWorld War IIhe served as private and later a sergeant in theGordon Highlanderswhere he helped run the theatrical entertainment group, the Balmorals. After the war he rejoined theEvening News,becoming afeaturewriter in 1946, the deputy drama critic later that same year, and the chief critic in 1958.

In 1960, Barker expanded his work to includefilm criticism,making him one of the few critics at the time who was working in both theatre and film.He became the president ofThe Critics' Circlein 1974. Throughout his career as a critic, Barker also established himself as an author and historian, publishing such works asThe Oliviers(1953),The House that Stoll Built(1957),London: 2000 Years of a City and its People(1974, withPeter Jackson),London as it Might Have Been(1982, withRalph Hyde),The History of London in Maps(1990, again with Peter Jackson) andGreenwich and Blackheath Past(1993). His final book wasEdwardian London,published in 1995.A posthumous publication was issued by theLondon Topographical Society,numbered 167, which represented another important collaboration with artist Peter Jackson, entitledThe Pleasures of London(2008), and edited byAnn Saundersand Denise Silvester-Carr.

In retirement he lived inBenendenin Kent where he landscaped the grounds of the 15th century Wealden Hall house his father Anthony Raine Barker had extensively restored from the 1930s. He had two children, Kent Barker (1953–) and Maxine Barker (1956–1992).