Kenneth McLeish

John Kenneth Tyrrell McLeish, known as Kenneth McLeish (1940–1997) was a British writer, playwright and translator. McLeish, "the most widely respected and prolific translator of drama in Britain", translated all the surviving classical Greek plays, most plays by Henrik Ibsen and Georges Feydeau, and individual plays by Plautus, Molière, Alfred Jarry, August Strindberg, Ödön von Horváth and Eugène Marin Labiche.

Life McLeish was born in Glasgow on 10 October 1940. He was educated at Bradford Grammar School, where he learnt French, Latin and Greek. He taught himself Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. He studied Music and Classics at Worcester College, Oxford before becoming a teacher. He married Valerie Heath in 1965. In 1975 he gave up teaching to write and translate full-time. (with John Bailey and David Spearman) Gods and men: myths and legends from the world's religions, 1981 (with Valerie Heath) The Oxford first companion to music, 1982 The Penguin companion to the arts in the twentieth century, 1985 Longman guide to Shakespeare's characters: a who's who of Shakespeare, 1985 The Seven Wonders of the World, 1985 (with Valerie Heath) Listeners' guide to classical music: an introduction to the great classical composers and their works, 1986 (with Valerie Heath) Longman guide to Bible quotations, 1986 Bloomsbury good reading guide, 1988 (with Valerie Heath) Bloomsbury good reading guide to murder, crime fiction, and thrillers, 1990 (with Valerie Heath) Bloomsbury good reading guide to biography & autobiography, 1991 Key ideas in human thought, 1993 Myth: myths and legends of the world explored, 1996 Aristotle, 1997