Emeritus Professor awarded an OBE by HM The Queen
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Professor Jim Knowlson receiving his OBE from HM the Queen
'It was a splendid occasion and I was honoured to receive the award from HM the Queen herself'
The world's leading expert on the Nobel-prize winning novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett has received an OBE for 'services to literary scholarship' from HM the Queen.
Emeritus Professor Jim Knowlson received this prestigious honour during an Investiture held at Windsor Castle on Friday 7 March.
Professor Knowlson founded Reading's Beckett International Foundation and set up the Beckett Archive - the largest and richest collection of books, manuscripts and materials anywhere on the author - who died in 1989.
Professor Knowlson, a friend of Beckett's for almost twenty years, is also his sole authorised biographer and the author of many other books and essays on his work.
A Reading graduate and PhD., he came to the University in 1969 to a Lectureship, then a Readership in French, from the University of Glasgow, where he had lectured mainly on Eighteenth Century French literature and thought.
At Reading he specialised in Modern European Drama. In 1981 he became a Personal Professor in French - work which was recognised by the French government who awarded him the honour of 'Officier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques'in 2011.
Professor Knowlson has also been instrumental in organising a number of successful charity events, including a Beckett Gala Evening (with the film director, the late Anthony Minghella) which brought stars like Lee Evans, Jude Law, Felicity Kendal, Barry McGovern, Rosemary Pike, Alan Rickman and Billie Whitelaw to Reading Town Hall in 2006. The event raised well over £20,000 for Macmillan Cancer Relief.
Professor Jim Knowlson said: "It was a splendid occasion and I was honoured to receive the award from HM the Queen herself. It was thrilling to be in the Castle with one's family and a very humbling experience to meet fellow recipients who have contributed so much to the community.
"Having a huge interest in theatre, it was also great fun to be at the same investiture as Penelope Keith (a Dame) and to chat to Michael Crawford (a CBE). The Queen was friendly and charming and seemed genuinely interested in all that the recipients of the various honours had achieved."
Professor Knowlson will be giving the opening address at a 'Staging Beckett' conference in the University's Minghella Building on April 4th.