News release
From the University Library
09 January 2006
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: update
The latest update to the online Oxford DNB ( www.oxforddnb.com ) adds the biographies of 202 men and women who died in 2002. Also available from January are new themes for research, and website features including 10,400 links to National Portrait Gallery's online database.
New lives in January 2006
The 202 new biographies - published on Thursday 5 January - capture the diversity of recent British history: from royalty to comedy, scientific discovery to leisure time, and theatre to business enterprise. New lives include:
- Royalty: detailed biographies of Queen Elizabeth the queen mother and her daughter Princess Margaret
- Comedy and entertainment: the inclusion of Spike Milligan now completes the dictionary's coverage of The Goons; an entry on Dudley Moore reunites him with Peter Cook (d.1995), recreating one of the best-known comedy double acts of the 1960s and 70s.
- Science: the new release recalls an age of scientific excellence with four Nobel prize winners: the chemists Archer Martin, Max Perutz and George Porter, and the molecular biologist, Cesar Milstein.
- Theatre and film: John Thaw, best known for his role as the Oxford-based sleuth, Inspector Morse; plus Richard Harris whose career ranged from King Arthur to Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. Other new lives include the directors Joan Littlewood and Karel Reisz (best known for the film version of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning).
- New musical lives show the diverse and changing tastes of post-war Britain: from 'king of skiffle' Lonnie Donegan and novelty folk singer Jake Thackray to The Who's John Entwistle and Joe Strummer of The Clash.
- Business entrepreneurs include Sidney De Haan, creator of Saga Holidays; the industrialist Arnold Weinstock who built GEC into one of Britain's most successful companies; Erna Low, pioneer of the package ski tour; Sam Alper, caravan manufacturer and creator of the Little Chef restaurant chain, and Gerald Whent who, as chief executive of Vodafone, was a key player in the early stages of the mobile phone revolution.
- Shapers of the 1960s: many of our new lives were figures who define the Sixties: football commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme (of 'Some people are on the pitch …' fame), the sociologist Michael Young, a leading figure in the new Open University, and, of course, the firebrand Labour politician, Barbara Castle.
New themes for reference and research
The January update also includes new feature essays in the 'Themes' area - the Oxford DNB's online companion guide to British history. New features include essays by:
- Frank Prochaska on 'The monarchy and charity'
- Douglas Gray on 'Geoffrey Chaucer and vernacular literature'
- Anita McConnell on 'Scientific instrument makers, c.1300-1945'
- Geraint H Jenkins on 'Iolo Morganwg, "Bard of Liberty"'
New website features
- 10,000 new links from Oxford DNB biographies to the personal records in the National Portrait Gallery's online catalogue. The NPG catalogue is free, and illustrated, so you can use the link at the left of the Oxford DNB biography to go straight to the NPG's likenesses of that person.
- Users can now add a 'Search the Oxford DNB' button to their browser's toolbar. It's as easy to install as adding a bookmark. Once you've installed it, you can highlight a name on any web page, click the button, and you'll run a search for that person in the Oxford DNB.
- A small 'Search the Oxford DNB' box, which subscribers can add to their own web pages. Now you can make the Oxford DNB accessible from anywhere within your web site.
- Both the button for the toolbar and the search box are available at http://www.oup.com/oxforddnb/subscribers/customize/
From January 2006, the Oxford DNB includes 50,731 articles in which are told the life stories of 55,557 people, from the earliest times to 2002
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