Lucie-Smith, John Edward Mckenzie

(1933- )

   British art critic, writer, poet, and photographer, born at Kingston, Jamaica, but lived in Britain since 1946. Educated at King's School, Canterbury, he graduated M.A. from Merton College, Oxford, where he read history. From 1954 to 1956 he was an education officer in the Royal Air Force, then worked for ten years in advertising, then as a freelance journalist and broadcaster. He was associated with "The Group," an informal association of writers, mostly poets, set up in London in 1955 by Philip Hobsbaum (see entry). He is a regular contributor to many newspapers and magazines. A prolific author, his books are mostly on art, but also biography; he has written a historical novel as well as poetry collections. Some of his publications: The Fantasy Poets, 1954. Tropical Childhood and Other Poems, 1961. French Poetry: The Last Fifteen Years 1971 (with S.W. Taylor). Group Anthology with Philip Hobsbaum, 1973. Changing Shape, 2002. Some of his poems: "A Former Lover," "At the Roman Baths, Bath," "Imperialists in Retirement," "Seven Colors," "The Dodo," "The Giant Tortoise," "The Ladybirds," "Your Own Place."

   Sources: Biography of Edward Lucie-Smith, Knitting Circle. (http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/Lucie-Smith, John Edward Mckenziestafflag/edwardluciesmith.html\#Biography). British Poetry Since 1945. Edward Lucie-Smith, ed. Penguin Books, 1985. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). New Poets of England and America. Donald Hall and Robert Pack, eds. World, 1962. Poems One Line and Longer. William Cole, ed. Grossman, 1973. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse. Stephen Coote, ed. Penguin Books, 1983. Voices in the Gallery. Dannie Abse and Joan Abse, eds. Tate Gallery, 1986. Who's Who. London: A & C Black, 2005.