W. Sydney Robinson (born April 16, 1986) is a British biographer and book reviewer. He was educated at Harrow School, the University of Manchester and the University of Cambridge, where he was a research associate between 2013 and 2015.
Biographer
He is best known as the authorized biographer of Academy Award-winning screenplay writer and dramatist
Sir Ronald Harwood. The book ''Speak Well of Me: the authorized biography of Ronald Harwood'' was published by Oberon Books in May 2017 and charts Harwood's life from his impoverished childhood as part of a large Jewish family in South Africa to his years of success in the West End and Hollywood. Reviewing the book in ''The Times'' of London, theatre critic
Benedict Nightingale
William Benedict Herbert Nightingale (born 14 May 1939) is a British journalist, formerly a regular theatre critic for ''The Times'' newspaper. He was educated at Charterhouse and Magdalene College, Cambridge. His first published theatre revie ...
described it as 'engaging' and 'entertaining'. The reviewer in the ''Jewish Chronicle'', however, described it as 'wincingly florid' and 'egregious'.
Published works
Robinson has also published biographies of the Victorian investigative journalist
W. T. Stead, ''Muckraker: the scandalous life and times of Britain's first investigative journalist'', and a group biography of
Sir William Joynson-Hicks
William Joynson-Hicks, 1st Viscount Brentford, (23 June 1865 – 8 June 1932), known as Sir William Joynson-Hicks, Bt, from 1919 to 1929 and popularly known as Jix, was an English solicitor and Conservative Party politician.
He first at ...
,
Dean Inge,
Lord Reith
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...
and
Sir Arthur Bryant, ''The Last Victorians: a daring reassessment of four twentieth century eccentrics''. ''Muckraker'' was awarded the Political Biography of the Year Award at the 2013 Total Politics and Paddy Power Political Book Awards and was included in the 'Books of 2012' selection in ''The Sunday Times''. In a review of ''The Last Victorians'' in ''The Spectator'', biographer and historian
Philip Ziegler
Philip Sandeman Ziegler (24 December 1929 – 22 February 2023) was a British biographer and historian.
Background
Ziegler was born in Ringwood, Hampshire on 24 December 1929, the son of Louis Ziegler, an Army officer, and Dora Barnwell, a hom ...
commented that 'Robinson has real talent'. In 2021, Robinson followed up his earlier work on Sir Arthur Bryant with a work of literary non-fiction based on the extensive correspondence of the historian with a number of his former secretaries and lovers. This book, entitled ''Historic Affairs: the Muses of Sir Arthur Bryant'', contained revelations about Bryant's private life that were described as 'jaw-dropping' in a review by
Adam Sisman
Adam Sisman (born 17 March 1954) is a British writer, editor and biographer. He received the National Book Critics Circle Award for his second book, ''Boswell's Presumptuous Task''. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honor ...
in 'The Spectator'.
Robinson has reviewed books in ''The Sunday Times'', the ''TLS'', the ''Spectator'' and the ''Literary Review''.
Life
He lives in Northamptonshire and teaches full-time at
Oundle
Oundle () is a market town and civil parish on the left bank of the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England, which had a population of 6,254 at the time of the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. It is north of London and south-wes ...
.
References
External links
Ann Widdecombe presents W. Sydney Robinson with Political Biography of the Year Award
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, W. Sydney
1986 births
Living people
People educated at Harrow School
Teachers at Oundle School
British biographers