Peter Charles Bayley (25 January 1921 – 3 November 2015) was an English literary critic and academic. He was a fellow at University College, Oxford (1949–1972), the first Principal of Collingwood College, Durham (1972–1978), and Professor of English at the University of St Andrews (1978–1985).
Early life Bayley was born on 25 January 1921. He was educated at The Crypt School, Gloucester, and University College, Oxford, where he was a Sidwick Exhibitioner (1940–41).Bayley, Peter C., Celebrating a Significant Insignificant Bequest. The Journal of the Oxford Society, pages 12–17, May 1999. He undertook war service during the Second World War (1941–46).
Academic career He was subsequently a Junior Research Fellow (1947–49), then a Fellow and Praelector in English (1949–72), and Keeper of the College Buildings at University College. Bayley was the tutor of the author V.S. Naipaul who studied at University College in the 1950s.French, Patrick, Patrick French's biography of VS Naipaul: Naipaul's friendship with Paul Theroux, Daily Telegraph, 23 March 2008. He also edited the University College Record for a number of years.University College Record, Volume V, Number 3, page 149, August 1968. He was made an Emeritus Fellow of the college in 1985.
While a don at Oxford, Bayley oversaw the activities of the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) and the University College Players. He produced He Who Gets Slapped by Leonid Andreyev for the Univ Players in 1953. He was a Curator of the University Theatre and Chairman of the University Theatre Appeal Committee.
Books Bayley was the author of books on Edmund Spenser,Bayley, Peter C., Edmund Spenser: Prince of Poets. Hutchinson Education, 1971. . 19th century novelists,Bayley, Peter C., Loves and Deaths: Novelists' Tales of the 19th Century from Scott to Hardy, Oxford University Press, 1972. and John Milton.Bayley, Peter C., York Notes on John Milton's "Selected Poems". Longman Literature Guides, 1988. . The Times Literary Supplement wrote of his book on Spenser as being "a packed but lucidly written book which will be of permanent value to all students, and indeed readers, of Spenser".University College Record, Volume VI, Number 2, page 115, August 1972.
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