John Lough facts for kids
John Lough (born February 19, 1913 – died June 21, 2000) was an English expert in French literature and history. He taught French as a professor at Durham University from 1952 to 1978. He was also a Fellow of the British Academy, which is a big honour for scholars.
Early Life and Learning
John Lough was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on February 19, 1913. His dad was a butcher and a shopkeeper, and his mom's family were farmers.
He went to the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle. He was a very good student there and became interested in learning different languages. John won a special award called a scholarship to go to St John's College, Cambridge.
At Cambridge, he studied French and German. He did very well in his exams, which are called the Tripos. After that, he worked on his PhD degree. His PhD was about a person named Baron d'Holbach.
In 1935–36, he spent time in Paris, France, on another scholarship. While he was there, he met Muriel Alice Barker. They later got married and even worked together on academic projects. He earned his PhD in 1937.
His Amazing Career
In 1937, John Lough started his teaching career as a lecturer in French at the University of Aberdeen. He became a full lecturer in 1945. Then, in 1946, he moved to the University of Cambridge to teach there.
In 1952, he became a Professor of French at Durham University. He stayed in this important role until he retired in 1978.
John Lough was an expert in French literature and history from the 1600s and 1700s. He studied the works of famous people like Denis Diderot and his huge book called the Encyclopédie. He also looked into French theatre and what English travellers wrote about France.
He helped edit many important books. For example, he edited Diderot's Selected Philosophical Writings (1953). He also edited Locke's Travels in France, 1675–1679 (1953).
John Lough wrote many of his own books too. Some of them include:
- The "Encyclopédie" of Diderot and D'Alembert: Selected Articles (1954)
- An Introduction to Seventeenth Century France (1954)
- Paris Theatre Audiences in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (1957)
- An Introduction to Eighteenth Century France (1960)
- Essays on the "Encyclopédie" of Diderot and D'Alembert (1968)
- The "Encyclopédie" (1971)
He also helped edit other works, like French Prose Composition (1963) and some volumes of Diderot's Œuvres Complètes (1976).
Later Years and Recognition
Even after he retired in 1978, John Lough kept writing books. He wrote about writers and the public in France, French drama, and how British travellers saw France before the French Revolution.
He also wrote a book with his wife, Muriel, called An Introduction to Nineteenth-Century France (1978). With his sister, Elizabeth Merston, he wrote a book about his great-great uncle, John Graham Lough, who was a sculptor.
John Lough received special honorary doctorates from two universities. In 1973, he was made an Officer of the National Order of Merit of France. This is a very high award from the French government. Two years later, in 1975, he was chosen to be a Fellow of the British Academy.
John Lough passed away on June 21, 2000. His wife, Muriel, had died two years before him. He was survived by their daughter.
