Noel Gilroy Annan, Baron Annan
OBE (25 December 1916 – 21 February 2000) was a British military intelligence officer, author, and academic. During his military career, he rose to the rank of
colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
and was appointed to the
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
as an Officer (OBE). He was provost of
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...
, 1956–66, provost of
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
, 1966–78, vice-chancellor of the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
, and a member of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
.
Annan's publications include ''Leslie Stephen'' (1951)—awarded the
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Unit ...
, ''Roxburgh of Stowe'' (1965), ''Our Age'' (1990), described by Professor
John Gray in the ''
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' as a "marvellous compendium of the higher gossip", ''Changing Enemies'' (1995), and ''The Dons'' (1999). His best-known essay is "The Intellectual Aristocracy", which illustrates, according to
Robert Fulford in the ''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'', the "web of kinship that united British intellectuals (the Darwins, Huxleys, Macaulays, etc.) in the 19th and early 20th centuries."
Early life and education
Annan was born in Gloucester Terrace, London, and was educated at St. Winnifred's School,
Seaford in East Sussex, and
Stowe School
, motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public schoolIndependent school, day & boarding
, religion = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Headmaster
...
.
At Stowe, he was head of Temple House, and editor of the school newspaper ''The Stoic''. He went up to
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...
,
in 1935, where he read History, then continued for a fourth year to read Law. While at King's, he was recruited into the
Cambridge Apostles
The Cambridge Apostles (also known as ''Conversazione Society'') is an intellectual society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who became the first Bishop of Gibraltar.W. C. Lubenow, ''The Ca ...
, a secret debating society whose members included
Guy Burgess
Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (16 April 1911 – 30 August 1963) was a British diplomat and Soviet agent, and a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring that operated from the mid-1930s to the early years of the Cold War era. His defection in 1951 ...
and
Michael Straight
Michael Whitney Straight (September 1, 1916 – January 4, 2004) was an American magazine publisher, novelist, patron of the arts, a member of the prominent Whitney family, and a confessed spy for the KGB.
Early life
Straight was born in New Yor ...
, who later became spies for the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
(see
Cambridge Five
The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted for ...
).
Military career
In October 1940, he entered officer cadet training, and in January 1941 was commissioned in the Intelligence Corps and posted to
MI14
MI14, or British Military Intelligence, Section 14 was a department of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence. It was an intelligence agency of the War Office, which specialised in intelligence about Germany. Originally part of MI3, ...
, a department of the War Office, where "Annan was given an important job in operational intelligence studying the movement by rail of German forces."
In 1942, he was posted to the Joint Intelligence Staff in the
War Cabinet Office, which was located with
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
in his bunker. In 1944, he was transferred to Paris to become the French liaison officer with British military intelligence, later becoming a senior officer in the political division of the . Annan was appointed an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) in 1946.
Academic career
Annan returned to King's in 1946, where he had been elected to a fellowship ''in absentia'' in 1944 at the unusually young age of 28.
He joined the economics faculty and lectured in politics.
In June 1950, he married the author and critic
Gabriele Ullstein, and they had two daughters – Lucy (born 1952) and Juliet (born 1955).
He was elected Provost of King's in 1956. In 1966, he took up the post of Provost of University College London, then from 1978 until 1981, was Vice-Chancellor of the University of London – the first person to take on the role full-time.
He was created a
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
on 16 July 1965 as Baron Annan, ''of the
Royal Burgh of Annan in the
County of Dumfries''.
He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 1974.
Essex University
The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...
awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1967. He was also a Fellow of the
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history.
Origins
The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...
.
Committees
He acted as a trustee of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
1963–1980, and of the
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
1978–85. He also chaired the Royal Commission on Broadcasting, which concluded in 1977 (see
Annan Committee
The Annan Committee on the future of broadcasting was established in April 1974 to discuss the United Kingdom broadcasting industry, including new technologies and their funding, the role and funding of the BBC, Independent Broadcasting Authority ...
). He was the first chairman of the Trustee's education committee at
Churchill College
Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities.
In 1958, a trust was establish ...
, Cambridge.
Bibliography
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Annan was a signatory to a famous letter published in ''The Times'' in 1958 which precipitated the establishment of the Homosexual Law Reform Society, which campaigned for homosexual law reform. (See Patrick Higgins, ''Heterosexual Dictatorship: Male Homosexuality in Post-War Britain'', London: Fourth Estate Ltd; 1996, p. 125.)
See also
*
List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London
References
Further reading
*''Lord Noel Gilroy Annan'', memorial booklet published by King's College, Cambridge, 2001.
Portraits of Annan National Portrait Gallery
The Papers of Noel Gilroy Annan Janus, Cambridge
''National Post'', 2 May 2005
Baron Annan Senate House Library archives, University of London
"A reputation of merit – Michael Young: Social Entrepreneur"by John Gray, ''New Statesman'', 15 October 2001
Appearance on Desert Island Discs - 4 November 1990
{{DEFAULTSORT:Annan, Noel Baron Annan
1916 births
2000 deaths
Writers from London
People educated at Stowe School
Crossbench life peers
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Fellows of King's College, Cambridge
Provosts of King's College, Cambridge
Academics of University College London
Academics of the University of London
People associated with the National Gallery, London
Trustees of the British Museum
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellows of the Royal Historical Society
Vice-Chancellors of the University of London
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients
Provosts of University College London
People associated with the University of East Anglia
20th-century British historians
British Army personnel of World War II
Intelligence Corps officers
Life peers created by Elizabeth II