Notable People
North Oxford has attracted famous residents, such as the authors and academics J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) and Iris Murdoch (1919–1999). Murdoch lived with her husband and fellow academic John Bayley, and the area was featured in the biographical film, Iris. T. E. Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia) grew up in Polstead Road, North Oxford.
Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984), Poet Laureate, was an enthusiast about North Oxford and wrote poems mentioning the area, such as May-Day Song for North Oxford:
Belbroughton Road is bonny, and pinkly bursts the spray
Of prunus and forsythia across the public way,
For a full spring-tide of blossom seethed and departed hence,
Leaving land-locked pools of jonquils by sunny garden fence.
And a constant sound of flushing runneth from windows whence
The toothbrush too is airing in this new North Oxford air.
Read more about this topic: North Oxford
Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or people:
“a notable prince that was called King John;
And he ruled England with main and with might,
For he did great wrong, and maintained little right.”
—Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 2–4)
“In the Yangtze River waves push the waves ahead; so in life new people constantly replace the old ones.”
—Chinese proverb.