John Ruskin

9 March 1905 – 27 October 1993

Sir Peter Courtney Quennell CBE (9 March 1905 – 27 October 1993) was an English biographer, literary historian, editor, essayist, poet, and critic. He wrote extensively on social history. Born in Bickley, Kent, the son of architect (and author/illustrator) C. H. B. Quennell and Marjorie Quennell (historian/author/illustrator), he was educated at Berkhamsted Grammar School and at Balliol College, Oxford. While still at school some of his poems were selected by Richard Hughes for the anthology *Public School Verse*, which brought him to the attention of writers such as Edith Sitwell. In 1922 he published his first book, *Masques and Poems*. This was followed by many other volumes, part…