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John Tresidder Sheppard

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Sir John Tresidder Sheppard, MBE ((1881-11-07)7 November 1881 – (1968-05-07)7 May 1968) was an eminent classicist and the first non-Etonian to become the provost of King's College, Cambridge.[1]

Early life

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John Sheppard was educated at Dulwich College.[1] He went up to King's College, Cambridge, where he studied Classics and won the Porson Prize.

Career

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He was a lecturer in classics at King's College of Cambridge University from 1908 to 1933 and was provost from 1933 to 1954. During the Second World War he performed intelligence work, for which he was appointed MBE; he was knighted in 1950 for his services to Greek. During his long career he translated many famous Greek classics, and published several books on the subject, including The Pattern of the Iliad, Greek Tragedy, and Aeschylus & Sophocles: Their Work and Influence.

Personal life

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John Sheppard was openly homosexual.[2][3][4] He was knighted in the 1950 King's Birthday Honours List.

References

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  1. ^ a b Hodges, S, (1981), God's Gift: A Living History of Dulwich College, pages 88, (Heinemann: London)
  2. ^ Costello, John (1998). The Mask of Treachery. Collins. p. 359. ISBN 0-00-217536-3. Cambridge boasted the flamboyant homosexual John Tresidder Sheppard of King's…
  3. ^ Annan, Noel (2001). The Dons: Mentors, Eccentrics and Geniuses. University of Chicago Press. p. 115. ISBN 0-226-02108-4. Sheppard, when a young fellow…went about proclaiming his infatuation with various handsome young men and tried to convince Lytton Strachey that to fall for a philistine was not necessarily evidence of a bad state of mind.
  4. ^ Tamagne, Florence (2004). A history of homosexuality in Europe: Berlin, London, Paris, 1919–1939. Algora Publishing. p. 173. ISBN 0-87586-252-7.
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Academic offices
Preceded by Provost of King's College, Cambridge
1933-1954
Succeeded by