Kenneth Dover facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sir Kenneth Dover FRSE FBA
Chancellor of the University of St Andrews
In office 1981–2005
Preceded by	Bernard Fergusson, Baron Ballantrae
Succeeded by	Menzies Campbell
President of the British Academy
In office 1978–1981
Preceded by	Sir Randolph Quirk
Succeeded by	Sir Keith Thomas
President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
In office 1976–1986
Preceded by	George Derek Gordon Hall
Succeeded by	Sir Keith Thomas
Personal details
Born	Kenneth James Dover (1920-03-11)11 March 1920 London, England
Died	7 March 2010(2010-03-07) (aged 89) Cupar, Scotland
Spouse	Audrey Ruth Latimer (married 1947-2009)
Children	2
Education	St Paul's School, London
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Civilian awards	Knight Bachelor
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Unit	Royal Artillery
Battles/wars	Second World War
Military awards	Mentioned in Despatches

Sir Kenneth James Dover (11 March 1920 – 7 March 2010) was a very important British expert in classical studies. This means he studied the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. He was a professor and leader at several famous universities and academic groups.

Sir Kenneth was the president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, from 1976 to 1986. He also led the British Academy from 1978 to 1981. Later, he became the Chancellor of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, serving from 1981 to 2005. He was known for his deep knowledge of ancient Greek writing and plays.

Early Life and Military Service

Kenneth Dover was born in London, England, on March 11, 1920. He was the only child of Percy Dover and Dorothy Healey. He went to St Paul's School and then to Balliol College, Oxford, which are both well-known educational places.

During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Artillery, a part of the British Army. He was recognized for his brave service in Italy.

Academic Career and Leadership

After the war, Dover returned to Oxford University. In 1948, he became a fellow and tutor at his old college, Balliol. This meant he was a senior member of the college who taught students.

In 1955, Dover became a professor of Greek at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He worked there for 21 years. During this time, he was also the dean of the university's Faculty of Arts twice. A dean is a leader of a specific department or school within a university.

He received a special honor called a knighthood in 1977. This was for his great contributions to the study of ancient Greek. In 1976, he became the president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, a role he held for ten years.

From 1978 to 1981, Sir Kenneth was the president of the British Academy. This is a leading group for humanities and social sciences in the UK. He had been a member of this group since 1966. In the 1980s, he also taught at universities in the United States, like Cornell University and Stanford University.

Sir Kenneth Dover returned to St Andrews University in 1981 as its Chancellor. The Chancellor is usually the head of a university. He was the first Chancellor of St Andrews who was not a noble or a high-ranking church leader. He served in this important role for 25 years, stepping down at the end of 2005.

Important Studies and Writings

Sir Kenneth Dover's academic work mostly focused on three important ancient Greek writers: Thucydides, Aristophanes, and Plato. He also studied the style of ancient Greek writing.

He helped finish a major book about Thucydides's history, which is often called "Gomme-Andrewes-Dover." He also wrote two books with notes about Aristophanes's plays, Clouds and Frogs. He wrote another book, Aristophanic Comedy, for a wider audience to enjoy.

His interest in writing style started with his early book Greek Word Order (1960). His last major book, The Evolution of Greek Prose Style (1997), also explored this topic. He also helped update an important book called The Greek Particles.

Sir Kenneth also studied the speeches of Lysias, an ancient Athenian speechwriter. He used a method called stylometry, which uses statistics to study writing styles. He found that it was hard to know for sure who wrote some speeches because writers would change their style to match their clients.

Awards and Recognitions

Sir Kenneth Dover received special honorary degrees from many universities. These included Oxford, St Andrews, Birmingham, Bristol, London, Durham, Liverpool, and Oglethorpe.

He was also a foreign member of important academic groups in other countries. These included the American and the Royal Netherlands Academies of Arts and Sciences.

Hobbies and Personal Life

Beyond his academic work, Sir Kenneth Dover was very passionate about bird watching. He was known as one of Britain's best birders.

When he was president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he was famous for being able to greet every student by their name. He did this by studying their photographs. He sometimes found it tricky to identify new students when many of them had beards!

Sir Kenneth lived in St Andrews, Scotland, where his family had a home since around 1960. He married Audrey Ruth Latimer in March 1947. Lady Dover passed away in December 2009. Sir Kenneth Dover died in Cupar, Scotland, on March 7, 2010. He was survived by his son and daughter.

Selected Works

• Greek Word Order (1960)
• Thucydides: Book VI (BCP Greek Texts) (1965)
• Thucydides: Book VII (1965)
• Aristophanes: Clouds (1968)
• Lysias and the Corpus Lysiacum (1968)
• Theocritus: Select Poems (1971)
• Aristophanic Comedy (1972)
• Thucydides, (Greece & Rome New Surveys, 1973)
• Greek Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle (1974)
• Plato: Symposium (Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics, 1980)
• The Greeks (1980)
• Ancient Greek Literature (1980)
• Greek and the Greeks: Collected Papers; language, poetry, drama (1987)
• The Greeks and their Legacy (1988)
• Aristophanes: Frogs (1993)
• Marginal Comment: a memoir, (1994) ISBN: 0-7156-2630-2
• The Evolution of Greek Prose Style (1997)

See also

In Spanish: Kenneth Dover para niños