Michael De-la-Noy (3 April 1934 – 12 August 2002, born Michael Delanoy Walker) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 20 books, the most successful being ''The Queen Behind the Throne''. De-la-Noy was also noted for being fired in 1970 as press secretary to

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

Michael Ramsey Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury, (14 November 1904 – 23 April 1988) was an English Anglican bishop and life peer. He served as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and held the office until 1 ...

after writing an article in support of a bisexual and transvestite colonel, which was seen as too liberal for the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

Biography

De-la-Noy was born in

Hessle Hessle () is a town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, west of Kingston upon Hull city centre. Geographically it is part of a larger urban area consisting of the city of Kingston upon Hull, the town of ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, and grew up in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He was educated at

Bedford School :''Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Girls' School, Bedford High School, Bedford Modern School, Old Bedford School in Bedford, Texas or Bedford Academy in Bedford, Nova Scotia.'' Bedford School is a public school (English indep ...

, although he ran away at the age of 13 though this did not prevent him from accepting a commission to write the school's official history in 1999.Jonathan Fryer
"Michael De-la-Noy" (obituary)
''

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 ...

'', 16 August 2002. Retrieved 16 January 2009. He worked as a reporter for two local papers, the ''Bedfordshire Times'' and the ''Brighton and Hove Herald'',"Michael De-la-Noy" (obituary)
''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'', 13 August 2002. before joining the employ of Anglican clergyman

Timothy Beaumont Timothy Wentworth Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley (22 November 1928 – 8 April 2008) was a British politician and an Anglican priest. He was politically active, successively, in the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party ...

. It was after this job that he went to work for Archbishop

, for whom De-la-Noy became press secretary in 1967. De-la-Noy's many books included biographies of

Denton Welch Maurice Denton Welch (29 March 1915 – 30 December 1948) was a British writer and painter, admired for his vivid prose and precise descriptions. Life Welch was born in Shanghai, China, to Arthur Joseph Welch, a wealthy British rubber merchant, ...

(''Denton Welch: The Making of a Writer'', 1984),

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

(''Elgar: The Man'', 1984),

the Queen Mother ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

(''The Queen Behind the Throne'', 1994),

Edward Sackville-West Edward Charles Sackville-West, 5th Baron Sackville (13 November 1901 – 4 July 1965) was a British music critic, novelist and, in his last years, a member of the House of Lords. Musically gifted as a boy, he was attracted as a young man to a lit ...

(''Eddy: The Life of Edward Sackville-West'', 1988), and the Archbishop of Canterbury (''Michael Ramsey: A Portrait'', 1990), and other works such as ''The Honours System'' (1985) and ''Acting as Friends: The Story of the Samaritans'' (1987). De-la-Noy died of cancer at the age of 68; he was survived by his partner of 30 years Bruce Hodson.

Selected bibliography

* ''Denton Welch: The Making of a Writer'' (1984) * ''Elgar: The Man'' (1984) * ''The Honours System'' (1985) * ''Acting as Friends: The Story of the Samaritans'' (1987) * ''Eddy: The Life of Edward Sackville-West'' (1988) * ''Michael Ramsey: A Portrait'' (1990) * ''The Queen Behind the Throne'' (1994) * ''George IV'' (1998)

References

External links

* Jonathan Fryer
"Michael De-la-Noy" (obituary)
''The Guardian'', 16 August 2002. {{DEFAULTSORT:De-la-noy, Michael Journalists from Yorkshire People educated at Bedford School 2002 deaths 1934 births People from Hessle