Grisewood, Harman, 1906-

Harman (Joseph Gerard) Grisewood was born on Feb. 8, 1906, at Wormleybury, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Harman Grisewood and Lucille Geneviève (Cardozo) Grisewood. He was educated at Ampleforth College , as was his friend and contemporary René Hague, and at Worcester College, Oxford, where he received a degree in English literature in 1927. Mr. Grisewood began his long association with the BBC in 1929 as a member of the repertory company. From 1933 until his retirement in 1964 he was successively an announcer; assistant to the program officer; assistant director of program planning; assistant controller of the European Division; acting controller of the European Division; director of talks; planner and then controller of the Third Programme; director of the spoken word; and, lastly, chief assistant to the director-general. He was editor of 'The Dublin review' from 1949 to 1952 and vice-president of the European Broadcasting Union from 1953 to 1954. He also served on several official government bodies, including the Lord Chancellor's Committee on Defamation and the Younger Committee on Privacy. Among the awards and honors given Mr. Grisewood were the King Christian X Freedom Medal, 1946, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 1960, and Knight of the Order of Malta, 1960. Mr. Grisewood was the author of an autobiography, 'One thing at a time' (1968), and two novels, 'The recess' (1963) and 'The last cab on the rank' (1964). In addition he edited several works by his friend David Jones: 'Epoch and artist : selected writings' (1959), 'The dying Gaul, and other writings' (1978), and, with René Hague, 'The Roman quarry and other sequences' (1981). Harman Grisewood died on Jan. 8, 1997 at Eye, Suffolk, England. He was survived by his wife, Margaret, neé Bailey, and a daughter, Sabina.

David Michael Jones was born in Brockley, Kent, England, on Nov. 1, 1895. His father was James Jones, a printer's manager, and his mother was Alice Ann Bradshaw, the daughter of a mast and block maker. His mother encouraged his artistic interests and he began sketching at an early age. Some of these childhood sketches not only attracted public attention but also were exhibited at the Royal Drawing Society. From 1909 to 1914 Jones attended the Camberwell School where he was introduced to modern trends in art. His education was interrupted by the First World War, during which he served with the 15th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. From 1919 to 1921 Jones attended the Westminster School of Art in London. In 1921 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church and in 1922 began his artistic association with Eric Gill at Ditchling, Sussex, later following him to Capel-y-ffin, Wales. During this period, after studying wood and copper engraving with Desmond Chute, Jones began producing book illustrations for St Dominic's Press, The Golden Cockerel Press and other publishers. Disappointed with the published reproductions of some of his engravings, Jones turned his attention to watercolor, which would become the dominant medium of his work for the remainder of his life. In 1937 Jones published 'In parenthesis', a volume written in a mixture of poetry and prose and inspired by his experiences in World War I. This was followed in 1952 by 'The anathemata', which was intended to be part of a longer poem, parts of which were collected in 'The sleeping lord, and other fragments' published in 1974. A posthumous volume, 'The Roman quarry, and other sequences', edited by Harman Grisewood and René Hague, appeared in 1981, followed in 2002 by 'Wedding poems', three previously unpublished short poems edited by Thomas Dilworth. In poor health for many years, Jones suffered a stroke and fall in 1970. His last years were spent at the Calvary Nursing Home of the Blue Sisters, Sudbury Hill, London, where he died on Oct. 28, 1974.

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