Jacqueline Simpson (born 1930) is a prolific, award-winning British researcher and author on folklore.Jacqueline Simpson
, Penguin Books

Career

Simpson studied

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

and

Medieval Icelandic Icelandic (; is, íslenska, link=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Due to being a West Scandinavian language, it is most closely re ...

Bedford College, University of London Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a lead ...

. She has been, at various times, Editor, Secretary, and President of the Folklore Society. She was awarded the Society's Coote Lake Research Medal in 2008. In 2010 she was appointed Visiting Professor of Folklore at the Sussex Centre of Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy at the University of Chichester, West Sussex. She has a particular interest in local legends (as opposed to international

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

s), and has published collections of this genre from Iceland, Scandinavia in general, and England (the latter in collaboration with the late

Jennifer Westwood Jennifer Westwood (5 January 1940 – 12 May 2008) was a British author, broadcaster and folklorist. She was a Doctor of Philosophy with special interests in English Language, Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse. Her first book, ''Mediaeval Tales'', was pu ...

). She has also written on the folklore of various English regions, and was co-author with Steve Roud of the ''Penguin Dictionary of English Folklore''. She has been a point of reference for Terry Pratchett since he met her at a book signing in 1997. Pratchett, who was then researching his novel '' Carpe Jugulum'', was asking everyone in the queue how many "

magpie Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is one ...

" rhymes they knew; and while most people gave one answer – the theme from the TV series ''

Magpie Magpies are birds of the Corvidae family. Like other members of their family, they are widely considered to be intelligent creatures. The Eurasian magpie, for instance, is thought to rank among the world's most intelligent creatures, and is one ...

'' – Simpson was able to supply considerably more. According to Pratchett's version of their conversation, there were "about nineteen", but she suspects this is creative embroidery. Their encounter eventually led to collaboration.Pratchett, T. & Simpson, J. ''

The Folklore of Discworld The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' fantasy novels. It consists of a large disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants which ar ...

'', Introduction by Terry Pratchett. Transworld Publishers, 2008

Personal life

Simpson lives in West Sussex, England.

Selected publications

Articles

* Simpson, Jacqueline (1966-03-01). "Otherworld Adventures in an Icelandic Saga". ''Folklore''. 77 (1): 1–20. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1967-09-01). "Some Scandinavian Sacrifices". ''Folklore''. 78 (3): 190–202. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1969-06-01). "Legends of Chanctonbury Ring". ''Folklore''. 80 (2): 122–131. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1973-09-01). "Sussex Local Legends". ''Folklore''. 84 (3): 206–223. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1974-03-01). "The Function of Folklore in 'Jane Eyre' and 'Wuthering Heights'". ''Folklore''. 85 (1): 47–61. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1975-09-01). "Nixon's Prophecies in Their Historical Setting". ''Folklore''. 86 (3–4): 201–207. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1978-01-01). "Fifty British Dragon Tales: An Analysis". ''Folklore''. 89 (1): 79–93. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1979-01-01). "'Wændel' and the Long Man of Wilmington". ''Folklore''. 90 (1): 25–28. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1981-01-01). "Rationalized Motifs in Urban Legends". ''Folklore''. 92 (2): 203–207. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1982-01-01). "Obituary: Peter Mason Opie, M.A. (1918–1982)". ''Folklore''. 93 (2): 223–223. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1983-01-01). "Obituary: Professor William R. Bascom (1912–1981)". ''Folklore''. 94 (2): 251–251. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1985-01-01). "Obituary: Georges Henri Rivière, 1897–1985". ''Folklore''. 96 (2): 255–255. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1986-01-01). "God's visible judgements: the Christian dimension of landscape legends". ''Landscape History''. 8 (1): 53–58. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1989-01-01). "Folklore in Folklore: Trends Since 1959". ''Folklore''. 100 (1): 3–8. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1991-01-01). "'Be Bold, but not Too Bold': Female Courage in Some British and Scandinavian Legends". ''Folklore''. 102 (1): 16–30. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1994-01-01). "Margaret Murray: Who Believed Her, and Why?". ''Folklore''. 105 (1–2): 89–96. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1995-01-01). ""The Weird Sisters Wandering": Burlesque Witchery in Montgomerie's Flyting". ''Folklore''. 106 (1–2): 9–20. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1995-01-01). "Ellen Ettlinger, 1902–1994". ''Folklore''. 106 (1–2): 86–86. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1996-01-01). "Witches and Witchbusters". ''Folklore''. 107 (1–2): 5–18. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1997-01-01). ""The Rules of Folklore" in the Ghost Stories of M.R. James". ''Folklore''. 108 (1–2): 9–18. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (2006-01-01). "Boundaries for Ghosts: A Technique in Folk Exorcism". ''Folk Life''. 45 (1): 70–76. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (2003-03-01). "Repentant soul or walking corpse? Debatable apparitions in medieval England". ''Folklore''. 114 (3): 389–402. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (2005-08-01). "The Miller's Tomb: Facts, Gossip, and Legend". ''Folklore''. 116 (2): 189–200. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (2006-08-01). "Hilda Ellis Davidson (1914–2006)". ''Folklore''. 117 (2): 215–216. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (2008-08-01). "Seeking the Lore of the Land". ''Folklore''. 119 (2): 131–141. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (2011-04-01). "On the Ambiguity of Elves". ''Folklore''. 122 (1): 76–83. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (2015-05-04). "Sir Terry Pratchett OBE (1948–2015)". ''Folklore''. 126 (2): 232–234. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (2017-07-03). "Venetia Newall (1935–2017)". ''Folklore''. 128 (3): 316–317. . .

Books

* Simpson, Jacqueline (1965). ''The Northmen Talk. A Choice of Tales from Iceland'', Phoenix House/Dent, & University of Wisconsin Press * Simpson, Jacqueline (1965). ''The Northmen talk. A choice of tales from Iceland. Translated and with introduction by Jacqueline Simpson, with a foreword by

Eric Linklater Eric Robert Russell Linklater CBE (8 March 1899 – 7 November 1974) was a Welsh-born Scottish poet, fiction writer, military historian, and travel writer. For ''The Wind on the Moon'', a children's fantasy novel, he won the 1944 Carnegie Meda ...

''. London; Madison: Phoenix House ; University of Wisconsin Press. . * Garmonsway, George Norman; Simpson, Jacqueline (1968). ''Beowulf and its analogues. Translated by G. N. Garmonsway and Jacqueline Simpson. Including Archaeology and Beowulf by Hilda Ellis Davidson. With plates''. London; New York: J. M. Dent & Sons ; E. P. Dutton & Co. . * Partridge, Eric; Simpson, Jacqueline (1972). ''The Penguin dictionary of historical slang''. Harmondsworth. Penguin Books. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline; Galsworthy, Gay (1973). ''The folklore of Sussex''. London: Batsford. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1976). ''The folklore of the Welsh border''. London: B.T. Batsford. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1980). ''British dragons''. London: Batsford. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline; Wilson, Eva (1987)''. Everyday life in the Viking age.'' New York: Dorset Press. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (1987). ''European mythology. New York: P. Bedrick Books. . .'' * Simpson, Jacqueline; Gowdy, Caroline (1989). ''Scandinavian Folktales'' (Penguin Folklore Library / Puffin) * Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Stephen (2003). ''A dictionary of English folklore''. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. . . * Simpson, Jacqueline (2004) ''Icelandic Folktales and Legends'' (Revealing History) 2nd ed., NPI Media Group, * Simpson, Jacqueline; Westwood, Jennifer. (2005; reissued 2006). ''The Lore of the Land: a Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys,'' Penguin * ''

'' (with Terry Pratchett), Doubleday (2008) . 2nd, enlarged edition. Corgi 2009 . 3rd enlarged edition, Corgi (2014) (same ISBN as 2nd edition) * Simpson, Jacqueline (2010). ''Elves: nasty or nice?''. Wincanton, Somerset: Discworld Emporium :. . * Simpson, Jacqueline (2010). ''Green Men and White Swans: the Folklore of British Pub Names'', Random House Books

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Jacqueline 1930 births Living people Folklore writers English folklorists Women folklorists Alumni of Bedford College, London Old Norse studies scholars Germanic studies scholars Writers on Germanic paganism Presidents of the Folklore Society 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers 21st-century English women writers