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Myers Literary Guide:
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The North-East
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JOHN WEIGHTMAN (1915 - 2004) The eminent French scholar and literary critic was the son of a Northumberland miner. Inspired by his teacher at the Hexham Grammar School, Weightman devoted his career to languages. Turning down the chance to study at Oxford or Cambridge, he attended Kings College, Newcastle, then part of Durham University. It was there that he met Doreen, his beloved wife and collaborator. After her death, he referred to himself as 'posthumous'. Weightman published many reviews and critical articles in the serious press, and translated a number of works by Claude Levi-Strauss. He was the only Briton in the wartime BBC team broadcasting to France in WW2, and frequently read the news, with General de Gaulle sitting opposite, waiting to address the French people (they never spoke to each other). Weightman became a professor at London University. His books include Memoirs of a Language Freak (2004) and Reading the Bible (2003) in which God finds himself up against a formidable inquisitor.
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