Cecil Parrott
Honorific prefixSir
Honorific suffixKCMG OBE
Ambassador fromUnited Kingdom
CountryCzechoslovakia
Term start1960
Term end1966
PredecessorSir Paul Grey
SuccessorSir William Barker
Birth nameCecil Cuthbert Parrott
Birth dateJanuary 29, 1909
Death dateJune 23, 1984 (aged 75)
Occupation

Diplomat, translator

Cecil Parrott
Known forTranslation of The Good Soldier Švejk
Alma materPeterhouse
Era20th century
DisciplineRussian and Soviet Studies
WorkplacesLancaster University

Sir Cecil Cuthbert Parrott (29 January 1909–23 June 1984) was a British diplomat, translator, writer and scholar.

Career

After studies at Peterhouse, Cambridge, he became a teacher. He joined the Foreign Office in 1939. His diplomatic career culminated with his posting to Prague, where he was the British Ambassador from 1960 to 1966. On retiring from the Foreign Office, he became, at the University of Lancaster, first Professor of Russian and Soviet Studies from 1966 to 1971 then, from 1971 to 1976, Professor of Central and South-Eastern European Studies and finally Director of the Comenius Centre. [1].

Translator of the Czech language

Sir Cecil Parrott is best known for his translation of Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk. He also translated some of Hašek's short stories, The Red Commissar and Other Tales.[2] He also wrote a study of Hašek's short stories.[3]

He wrote two autobiographical volumes, The Tightrope[4] and The Serpent and the Nightingale,[5] as well as his biography of Hašek, The Bad Bohemian.[6][7]

Descent

His son, Jasper Parrott, is a businessman involved in artists' management.[8]

Notes

  1. ^ "About the Translator", non-paged note after the final page of the Everyman’s Library edition, 151, Jaroslav Hašek,The Good Soldier Švejk and his Fortunes in the World War, 1993, 800 pages. The "Comenius center" is a teaching center in honor of Czech thinker John Amos Comenius.
  2. ^ Hašek, Jaroslav (1981), The red commissar : including further adventures of the good soldier Švejk and other stories, W. Heinemann, ISBN 978-0-434-31376-1
  3. ^ Parrott, Cecil Sir (18 March 1982), Jaroslav Hašek : a study of Švejk and the short stories, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-24352-0
  4. ^ Parrott, Cecil Sir (1975), The tightrope, Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-10256-3
  5. ^ Parrott, Cecil Sir (1977), The serpent and the nightingale, Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-10869-5
  6. ^ Parrott, Cecil Sir (1978), The bad Bohemian : the life of Jaroslav Hašek, creator of The good soldier Švejk, Bodley Head, ISBN 978-0-370-10344-0
  7. ^ Parrott, Cecil Sir (1983), The bad Bohemian : a life of Jaroslav Hašek creator of the good soldier Švejk, Abacus, ISBN 978-0-349-12698-2
  8. ^ Europa Publications (2003), The International Who's Who 2004, Psychology Press, ISBN 978-1-857-43217-6 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=neKm1X6YPY0C&pg