Roy Ridley
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framed |
Maurice Roy Ridley (
January 25,
1890 -
June 12,
1969) was a
writer and
poet, Fellow and Chaplain of
Balliol College, Oxford.
Dorothy L. Sayers based the physical description of her fictional character
Lord Peter Wimsey on that of Ridley after having seen him read his poem "Oxford" at the Encaenia ceremony in July of 1913. (The poem went on to win the
Newdigate Prize.)
Ridley spent a year as a visiting professor at
Bowdoin College. He is the author of
Studies in Three Literatures : English, Latin, Greek Contrasts and Comparisons (ISBN 0-31-320189-7).
Ridley was also reputedly the only priest of the Church of England ever to celebrate mass while wearing a
monocle. Canadian author
Robertson Davies refers to a cocktail (sherry with "a generous dollop" of gin) he drank at
Balliol College, Oxford as "a Roy Ridley special."
