Anthony Dymoke Powell was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work A Dance to the Music of Time, published between 1951 and 1975.
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Anthony Powell was born in Westminster, Middlesex, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Lionel William Anthony Powell, of the Welch Regiment, and Maud Mary, daughter of Edmund Lionel Wells-Dymoke, of The Grange, East Molesey, Surrey, descendant of a land-owning family in Lincolnshire, hereditary Champions to monarchs since King Richard II having married into the family of the Barons Marmion, who first held the position.
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The Anthony Powell family descended from ancient Welsh kings and chieftains.
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Anthony Powell had a strong interest in genealogy; he conducted extensive research into the Powell family over many years, establishing a paternal descent from Gwriad ap Elidyr- himself a descendant of Coel Hen according to the Genealogies from Jesus College MS 20 and other sources- via Rhys ap Gruffydd to the satisfaction of the heralds of the College of Arms, who in 1964 granted him use of the ancient Powell arms.
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Anthony Powell was then sent to New Beacon School near Sevenoaks, which was popular with military families.
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Early in 1919, Anthony Powell passed the Common Entrance Examination for Eton, where he started that autumn.
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At Eton, Anthony Powell spent much of his spare time at the Studio, where a sympathetic art master encouraged him to develop his talent as a draughtsman and his interest in the visual arts.
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Anthony Powell was awarded a third-class degree at the end of his academic years.
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Anthony Powell renewed acquaintance with Evelyn Waugh, whom he had known at Oxford, and was a frequent guest for Sunday supper at Waugh's parents' house.
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Anthony Powell got to know painters Nina Hamnett and Adrian Daintrey, who were neighbours in Fitzrovia, and composer Constant Lambert, who remained a good friend until Lambert's death in 1951.
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Anthony Powell was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956, and in 1973, he declined an offer of knighthood.
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Anthony Powell served as a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery from 1962 to 1976.
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Anthony Powell died on 28 March 2000 at his home, the Chantry, Whatley, west of Frome, Somerset.
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Anthony Powell worked in a form of apprenticeship at the publishers Gerald Duckworth and Company in Covent Garden, leaving their employ in 1932 after protracted negotiations about title, salary, and working hours.
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Anthony Powell made an abortive attempt to find employment in Hollywood as a screenwriter in 1937.
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Anthony Powell next found work reviewing novels for The Daily Telegraph and memoirs and autobiographies for The Spectator.
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Anthony Powell's superiors found uses for his talents, resulting in a series of transfers that brought him special training courses designed to produce a nucleus of officers to deal with the problems of military government after the Allies had defeated the Axis powers.
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Anthony Powell eventually secured an assignment with the Intelligence Corps and additional training.
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Anthony Powell was wary of right-wing groups and suspicious of inflated rhetoric.
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Anthony Powell married Lady Violet Pakenham, sister of Lord Longford, on 1 December 1934 at All Saints, Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge.
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On 30 April 2018, Anthony Powell's granddaughter Georgia Anthony Powell was born on 18 February 1969 and married Henry Somerset, 12th Duke of Beaufort.
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Anthony Powell wrote a few more occasional pieces for the magazine until it ceased publication in March 1938.
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Anthony Powell completed his fifth novel, What's Become of Waring, in late 1938 or early 1939.
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Anthony Powell then edited a selection of Aubrey's writings that appeared the following year.
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Anthony Powell returned to novel writing, and began to ponder a long novel sequence.
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Anthony Powell was awarded the 1957 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the fourth volume, At Lady Molly's.
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The cycle of novels, narrated by a protagonist with experiences and perspectives similar to Anthony Powell's own, follows the trajectory of the author's own life, offering a vivid portrayal of the intersection of bohemian life with high society between 1921 and 1971.
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In parallel with his creative writing, Anthony Powell served as the primary fiction reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement.
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Anthony Powell served as literary editor of Punch from 1953 to 1959.
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Anthony Powell reprinted many of his book reviews in two volumes of critical essays, Miscellaneous Verdicts and Under Review.
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Anthony Powell's dialogue is extraordinary; often terse, pedestrian and perfect, each character using three or four words.
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Anthony Powell taught me to write; he has such brilliant control of the mechanics of the novel.
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Anthony Powell has been called the "English Proust", but two essays by Perry Anderson demonstrate significant differences between the two writers.
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