Dorothy Knowles (28 March 1906 – 10 November 2010) was a British academic, known to her friends as Diana. She was noted for her research into French drama. She taught at

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

from 1934 to 1967. She was also an accomplished fencer. Knowles is known to historians of

British cinema The United Kingdom has had a significant film industry for over a century. While film production reached an all-time high in 1936, the "golden age" of British cinema is usually thought to have occurred in the 1940s, during which the directors ...

for her 1934 book ''The Censor, the Drama and the Film'', in which she criticised the

British Board of Film Censors The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of fi ...

for what she regarded as unaccountable political censorship. In 1989 she published a study of the work of the playwright

Armand Gatti Armand Gatti (; 26 January 1924 – 6 April 2017) was a French playwright, poet, journalist, screenwriter, filmmaker and World War II resistance fighter.Banham (1998, 413). His debut film ''Enclosure'' was entered into the 2nd Moscow Internati ...

Biography

Knowles was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. Her father was a mining engineer, and, after his death in 1911, the family moved to England, specifically Leeds, in order to deal with the family's finances. Although the family intended to move back to South Africa, the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

meant they could not do so. As a child, Knowles danced alongside

Marie Lloyd Matilda Alice Victoria Wood (12 February 1870 – 7 October 1922), professionally known as Marie Lloyd (), was an English music hall singer, comedian and musical theatre actress. She was best known for her performances of songs such as " T ...

and

Lupino Lane Henry William George Lupino (16 June 1892 – 10 November 1959) professionally Lupino Lane, was an English actor and theatre manager, and a member of the famous Lupino family, which eventually included his cousin, the screenwriter/director/actr ...

. She was also a fencer, and, in 1936, was the founder of the Liverpool University Fencing Club. Knowles continued fencing well into her 70s.

Academic career

Knowles was an expert on French theater, and perhaps her most important work was ''French Drama of Inter-War Years 1918-39''. Both she and her husband were intermittent lecturers at both Leningrad and Moscow universities. Knowles retired from her position at Liverpool University in 1984 and began spending more time in France. There, she discovered playwright

, and was working on a translation of his work when she died.

References

External links

Obituary
in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 10 December 2012
Obituary
in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 13 December 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Knowles, Dorothy 1906 births 2010 deaths Academics of the University of Liverpool British Board of Film Classification English centenarians English women writers Women centenarians South African emigrants to the United Kingdom