Vivien Noakes (née Langley; 16 February 1937 – 17 February 2011) was a British biographer, editor and critic, an expert on Edward Lear and the literature of the First World War. She was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Early life and education She was born Vivien Mary Langley, daughter of aeronautical engineer Marcus LangleyThe Telegraph obituary, 11 March 2011; accessed 10 April 2014. and educated at Dunottar School, leaving with A-levels. It was not until later in life that she took her degree at Manchester College, Oxford, and Somerville College, Oxford, where she was subsequently lecturer.Vivien Noakes obituary , warpoets.org; accessed 10 April 2014.
Career She lectured at Harvard University and at the Yale Center for British Art. She was a leading authority - per her Times obituary, "the world's leading authority" - on Edward Lear and on the literature of World War I.Profile; accessed 10 April 2014.Cambridge Science Live; accessed 10 April 2014.
Personal life She was married to the painter Michael Noakes, in collaboration with whom she produced The Daily Life of The Queen: An Artist's Diary (2000); the couple had three children.Obituary, The Guardian, 4 March 2011; accessed 10 April 2014.
She died of cancer the day after her 74th birthday, a month after suffering a stroke.Notice of the death of Vivien Noakes, nonsenselit.wordpress.com; accessed 10 April 2014. She left copies of many of Lear's letters to Somerville College Library.
Works Edward Lear, The Life of a Wanderer (1968). (2006 ed.) Edward Lear, 1812-1888 (1986). The Painter Edward Lear (1991). The Daily Life of The Queen: An Artist's Diary (2000) with Michael Noakes. Voices of Silence (2006).
Links Michael and Vivien Noakes' website; accessed 10 April 2014.
References