What's New: December 2024
December 12, 2024
Welcome to the 117th update of the Oxford DNB, which adds seven twentieth-century lives, including three émigrés from continental Europe, two businesspeople, a mosaicist, and a figure from London’s criminal underworld. The update also includes one updated article and six new portrait likenesses.
From December 2024, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford DNB) offers biographies of 63,072 women and men who have shaped the British past, contained in 65,319 articles. 12,254 biographies include a portrait image of the subject—researched in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Most public libraries across the UK subscribe to the Oxford DNB, which means that you can access the complete dictionary free of charge via your local library. Libraries offer ‘remote access’ that enables you to log in at any time at home (or anywhere you have internet access). Elsewhere, the Oxford DNB is available online in schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions worldwide. Full details of participating British public libraries, and how to gain access to the complete dictionary, are available.
View the list of entries added this month:
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Martin, Gertrude (1881–1952), master mosaicist |
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Middleton, Peter James (1940–2014), Marist father, intelligence officer, and businessman |
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Steiner, Franz Baermann (1909–1952), poet, anthropologist, and aphorist |
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Roman, Voytek [formerly Wojciech Roman Pawel Jerzy Szendzikowski; known as Voytek] (1925–2014), theatre and television designer |
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Saunders, Nicholas James Carr- [known as Nicholas Saunders] (1938–1998), entrepreneur and counter-cultural activist |
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Wolff, Heinz Siegfried (1928–2017), bioengineer, inventor, and broadcaster |
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Christie, (Malcolm) Grahame (1881–1971), engineer, air force officer, and intelligence officer |
December 2024: summary of new articles
The work of master mosaicist Gertrude Martin (1881–1952), born in Thornton Heath, Surrey, can be seen in some of the United Kingdom’s most important political and ecclesiastical sites, including Westminster Cathedral and the houses of parliament. Though her achievements received little recognition during her lifetime, her remarkable skill—evident across a wide range of techniques and design styles—is regarded today as culturally significant.
Although his death certificate reported his occupation as ‘demolition’, William Charles ‘Billy’ Hill (1911–1984), born in St Pancras, London, was a notorious criminal whose influence shaped London’s underworld for decades. Hill is known to have mentored the infamous Kray twins, and he masterminded or was otherwise involved in a variety of smuggling activities, protection rackets, and high-profile heists from the 1920s to the 1960s, including the unprecedented Eastcastle Street postal van robbery.
The poet, anthropologist, and aphorist Franz Baermann Steiner (1909–1952), born in Prague, fled Nazi persecution and studied under the anthropologist and ethnologist Bronisław Malinowski at the London School of Economics. He later earned a teaching post at Oxford. Based on a series of lectures, Steiner’s influential work of 1956, Taboo, presents a theory of the growth of civilization as an internalization of perceived dangers, culminating in western societies’ persecution of the stranger within, including his own Jewish people.
The bioengineer, broadcaster, and inventor Heinz Siegfried Wolff (1928–2017), born in Berlin, was a beloved TV personality, known especially for The Great Egg Race, which featured teams competing to make innovative gadgets from a selection of materials. His own inventions advanced electrocardiogram technology and the tools used by astronauts in space. He is credited with coining the term ‘bioengineering’ to describe the application of engineering principles to biological and medical challenges.
Born in Warsaw, the theatre and television designer Voytek Roman (1925–2014) was renowned for his innovative set designs, often characterized by bold, metafictional styles. His credits include the sets of more than forty plays in ABC Television’s prestigious Armchair Theatre series and Roman Polanski’s darkly comedic film Cul-de-sac. Despite focusing mostly on television, Voytek never entirely lost contact with theatre, and in 1983 he was awarded the Critic’s Circle award for best designer.
The entrepreneur and counter-cultural activist Nicholas James Carr-Saunders (1938–1998), born in Oxfordshire, pioneered the wholefood movement through the establishment and operation of Neal’s Yard in Covent Garden, which offered like-minded people a thriving place to meet. As the author of Alternative London and many other guides for alternative living, his ventures influenced the fair-trade and eco-business sectors throughout the 1980s and 90s.
Born in Hull, the intelligence officer and entrepreneur Peter James Middleton (1940–2014) was ordained as a Marist priest before successfully applying to join the Foreign Office, after which he was posted to Paris with a secret brief from MI6. Middleton proved equally adaptable as a leader in business, revitalizing the ailing Thomas Cook travel agency and guiding the insurance market Lloyd’s of London through a period of financial crisis during the mid-1990s.
An updated account of the pioneering aviator, engineer, and intelligence officer (Malcolm) Grahame Christie (1881–1971), adds new information on his role in the years preceding the Second World War as an independent intelligence agent and air attaché in Berlin, providing crucial insights into Nazi Germany’s war preparations.
Likenesses have been added to six lives: Princess Alice (1885-1969), Greek Orthodox nun and mother-in-law of Elizabeth II; the politician, Elaine Burton, Baroness Burton of Coventry (1904–1991); the astronomer, Zdeněk Kopal (1914-1993); Angela Olivia Pery, countess of Limerick (1897–1981), leader of the British and International Red Cross movements; William Alwyn (1905–1985), composer; and Christopher Ironside (1913–1992), artist and designer.
The Oxford DNB is updated regularly throughout the year, giving you access to the most up-to-date and accurate information available. Nearly all public libraries in England, Scotland, and Wales—and all in Northern Ireland—subscribe to the Oxford DNB. This means you can access tens of thousands of biographies, free, via your local library—anywhere, anytime. Full access to all biographies is also available by individual subscription.
Discover a full list of entries added this year.
