James Michie

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James Michie /ˈmɪki/[1] (24 June 1927 – 30 October 2007) was an English poet, translator and editor.

Michie was born in Weybridge, Surrey, the son of a banker and the younger brother of Donald Michie, a researcher in artificial intelligence.[2]

The texts that Michie translated included The Odes of Horace, The Art of Love by Ovid, The Poems of Catullus, The Epigrams of Martial and selections from La Fontaine's and Aesop's fables. He was the editorial director of The Bodley Head, a British publishing company, and lecturer at London University. His Collected Poems won the 1995 Hawthornden Prize.[3]

Beginning in the 1970s, Michie devised and judged literary competitions for The Spectator under the pen-name of Jaspistos.[2][4]

He caused controversy in 2004 when his poem, "Friendly Fire," was published in The Spectator under then-editor Boris Johnson.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Mind Your Language: Dot Wordsworth continues her look at BBC booklets on pronunciation published in the 1930s"
  2. ^ a b "James Michie". The Independent. 21 November 2007.
  3. ^ Euripides Helen 019802035X 1981 "His collaborator, James Michie, is presently a Director of the Bodley Head in London. He holds an MA. in Classics and English Literature from Oxford University. His publications include a book of poems, Possible Laughter (1959), and translations of various Latin poets, The Odes of Horace, The Poems of Catullus, and The Epigrams of Martial."
  4. ^ Sail, Lawrence (5 November 2007). "Obituary: James Michie". The Guardian.
  5. ^ Outrage at Spectator's poetic attack on Scots, The Herald, August 13, 2004