Betty Radice was joint editor

Editor in chief

An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...

 of Penguin Classics and vice-president of the Classical Association

Classical Association

The Classical Association is a British learned society in the field of classics, and a registered charity.The association was founded on 19 December 1903, and its objects are defined in its constitution as:...

.

Biography

Born Betty Dawson in Hessle

Hessle

Hessle is a town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, situated west of Kingston upon Hull city centre. Geographically it is part of a larger urban area which consists of the city of Kingston upon Hull, the town of Hessle and a number of other villages but is not part of the...

, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, she was granted a scholarship

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...

 to St Hilda's

St Hilda's College, Oxford

St Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.The college was founded in 1893 as a hall for women, and remained an all-women's college until 2006....

 college, Oxford, where she read Classics

Classics

Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

 beginning in 1931 and tutored in Classics, Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 and English

English literature

English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

. She married Italo de Lisle Radice in 1935 and became a teacher of Classics from this time. Later assistant to E. V. Rieu

E. V. Rieu

Emile Victor Rieu CBE was a classicist, publisher and poet, best known for his lucid translations of Homer, as editor of Penguin Classics, and for a modern translation of the four Gospels which evolved from his role as editor of a projected Penguin translation of the Bible...

, one of the founders of Penguin Classics, in 1975 Radice succeeded him as editor in conjunction with Robert Baldick

Robert Baldick

Robert Baldick was a British scholar of French literature, writer, joint editor of the Penguin Classics series with Betty Radice and a well-known translator. He was a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford....

.

Her son William Radice

William Radice

William Radice is a Poet, Writer and Translator.He is the Senior Lecturer in Bengali in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.His research area is in Bengali language and literature....

, an academic at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London ∙ UK), is one of the leading Western scholars of Bengali language

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

 and literature.

Scholarship

Betty Radice worked as both an editor and a translator. Her works include:

• The Letters of the Younger Pliny
• The Letters of Abelard and Heloise
• The Jewish War
• Rome and Italy: Books VI-X of the History of Rome from Its Foundation
• The Comedies
• Who's Who in the Ancient World
• Phormio & Other Plays.

External links

• Betty Radice papers University of Bristol Library Special Collections
• History of Penguin Classics
• National Portrait Gallery portrait of Betty Radice