Bruce Mitchell (scholar) facts for kids

Raymond Bruce Mitchell (born January 8, 1920 – died January 30, 2010) was a very important expert on Old English. Old English is the earliest form of the English language.

Biography

Growing Up in Australia

Raymond Bruce Mitchell was born in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. He was a very bright student. He won a special scholarship to the University of Melbourne. However, he couldn't use it right away. Instead, he left school at 15. He worked as a student teacher and studied part-time. He earned a general Arts degree.

In 1940, he became an officer in the army. He served as an intelligence officer in the Australian Army from 1941 to 1946. After the war, he ran a printing company. Later, he went back to university part-time. He also worked as a gardener, a builder's helper, and a railway porter. He tutored English at the university too. He earned top grades in English Language and Literature in 1948. He also got top grades in Comparative Philology in 1952.

Studying and Teaching in Oxford

In 1952, Bruce Mitchell moved to England. He received a scholarship to attend Merton College, Oxford. That same year, he married Mollie Miller. She had traveled with him from Australia. They even got permission to marry from Mitchell's supervisor, who was J.R.R. Tolkien! Tolkien is famous for writing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Mitchell earned his doctorate degree in 1959. His special study was about "Subordinate Clauses in Old English Poetry." Later, in 1986, he received another special degree. This was for his amazing work in Old English studies.

From 1954 to 1987, Mitchell was a Fellow and a Tutor at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. This meant he was a senior member of the college who taught students. After he retired, he was still honored as an emeritus fellow.

Even though he lived in Oxford for most of his life, he never lost his Australian accent. He showed his Australian pride in his garden. He had an Australian flag and a eucalyptus tree there. He even wrote a special "song of home" in an old language. It was about Australia: "Wor de Antarktisch Wellen trecken an de Strand, Wor de Eukalypten bleuhn int brune land Wor de schnelle Kangaruhn lufen ower Sand, Dor is mine Haimat."

His Work on Old English

Bruce Mitchell was an expert in Old English language and literature. He especially loved Beowulf, a very old epic poem. His textbooks about Old English are considered very important. He also published a special version of Beowulf with Fred C. Robinson. His big book about Old English grammar is still the main book people use today. It is called "magisterial" and "phenomenal."

Mitchell was also the tutor for Terry Jones. Terry Jones was a member of the famous comedy group, Monty Python. Mitchell thought he was the inspiration for their funny "Bruces" sketch. But he later found out that Eric Idle wrote it, and it wasn't based on him!