36 Facts About Anthony Powell

1.

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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2.

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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3.

The Anthony Powell family descended from ancient Welsh kings and chieftains.

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4.

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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5.

Anthony Powell was then sent to New Beacon School near Sevenoaks, which was popular with military families.

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6.

Early in 1919, Anthony Powell passed the Common Entrance Examination for Eton, where he started that autumn.

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7.

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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8.

Anthony Powell was awarded a third-class degree at the end of his academic years.

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9.

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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10.

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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11.

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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12.

Anthony Powell served as a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery from 1962 to 1976.

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13.

Anthony Powell died on 28 March 2000 at his home, the Chantry, Whatley, west of Frome, Somerset.

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14.

Anthony Powell came to work in London during the autumn of 1926 and lived at various London addresses for the next 25 years.

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15.

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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16.

Anthony Powell next took a job as a script writer at the Warner Bros.

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17.

Anthony Powell made an abortive attempt to find employment in Hollywood as a screenwriter in 1937.

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18.

Anthony Powell next found work reviewing novels for The Daily Telegraph and memoirs and autobiographies for The Spectator.

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19.

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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20.

Anthony Powell eventually secured an assignment with the Intelligence Corps and additional training.

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21.

In November 1944, Anthony Powell acted as assistant escorting officer to a group of 14 Allied military attaches taken to France and Belgium to see something of the campaign.

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22.

Anthony Powell was wary of right-wing groups and suspicious of inflated rhetoric.

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23.

Anthony Powell married Lady Violet Pakenham, sister of Lord Longford, on 1 December 1934 at All Saints, Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge.

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24.

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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25.

Anthony Powell wrote a few more occasional pieces for the magazine until it ceased publication in March 1938.

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26.

Anthony Powell completed his fifth novel, What's Become of Waring, in late 1938 or early 1939.

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27.

Anthony Powell then edited a selection of Aubrey's writings that appeared the following year.

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28.

Anthony Powell returned to novel writing, and began to ponder a long novel sequence.

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29.

Anthony Powell was awarded the 1957 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the fourth volume, At Lady Molly's.

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30.

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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31.

In parallel with his creative writing, Anthony Powell served as the primary fiction reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement.

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32.

Anthony Powell served as literary editor of Punch from 1953 to 1959.

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33.

Anthony Powell reprinted many of his book reviews in two volumes of critical essays, Miscellaneous Verdicts and Under Review.

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34.

Anthony Powell's dialogue is extraordinary; often terse, pedestrian and perfect, each character using three or four words.

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35.

Anthony Powell taught me to write; he has such brilliant control of the mechanics of the novel.

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36.

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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