NAME: Roger Lancelyn Green
BORN: 2 November 1918 in Norwich, Norfolk
DIED: 8 October 1987 in Poulton, Cheshire
NATIONALITY: English
LIVED: in Oxford and his family home in Cheshire, which the Greens had owned for more than nine hundred years
MARRIED: to June Green
CHILDREN: two sons and one daughter: Scirard, Richard and Priscilla
What was he like?
Roger was a man who loved storytelling and was fascinated by traditional fairy tales, myths and legends from around the world.
Where did he grow up?
He was born in Norwich, England, and went to boarding school in Surrey. Roger was often ill, though, and couldn’t go to school – so he spent lots of time at the family’s manor house in the county of Cheshire. His family had been wealthy, and there was a huge library in their house. He spent many hours reading the old books in there, and this is probably where his love of myths and legends started.
What did he do apart from writing books?
In the course of his life Roger was a professional actor, librarian and teacher. He was also a member of the Inklings Club in Oxford, a group of friends who read, and commented on, each other’s work. Its members included C. S. Lewis (author of The Chronicles of Narnia) and J. R. R. Tolkien (author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings).
If it hadn’t been for Roger, The Chronicles of Narnia might never have been published. In 1949 Roger went to dinner with C. S. Lewis, who read to him two chapters of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He also informed Roger that he’d read them to Tolkien a few weeks before, and Tolkien had told him that he didn’t think they were very good. Roger disagreed. He thought they were great, and he encouraged Lewis to get them published. Roger even thought of the series title, The Chronicles of Narnia, and he went on to become the very first reader of all of the other Narnia stories.
Where did Roger get the idea for Myths of the Norsemen?
Roger loved reading adventure stories and fairy tales, and as he grew up he became fascinated by the myths of ancient Greece and Egypt, and the legends of the Norse countries of Scandanavia. He went on to retell their ancient stories in his books Tales of Ancient Greece, The Tale of Troy, Tales from Ancient Egypt and Myths of the Norsemen – a continuous story gathered from the ancient Norse folktales, ballads and poems.
What other books did he write?
He was well known for his retellings of traditional stories. Including those mentioned above, he wrote The Adventures of Robin Hood and King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, all published as Puffin Classics. He also wrote many books for adults, including a biography of his friend C. S. Lewis and one of J. M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan.