Robert Fraser (Writer)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Professor Robert Fraser FRSL, author and biographer, was born on 10 May 1947 in Surbiton, Surrey, the second son of Harry MacKenzie Fraser, a London solicitor, and Ada Alice Gittins of Pontypool in the county of Montmouthshire. His brother is Malcolm Fraser, Emeritus Professor of Opera at the University of Cincinnati and co-founder of the Buxton Festival. At eight he won a choral scholarship to Winchester Cathedral where he sang the daily services whilst studying at the Pilgrims School in the Close. Among his fellow choristers were the future newscaster Jon Snow and international tenor Julian Pike. After attending Kingston Grammar School he went on to the University of Sussex to read English with David Daiches and Anthony Nuttall. He later wrote a doctorate on tradition in English poetry at Royal Holloway, University of London while simultaneously studying Harmony, Counterpoint and Composition at Morley College with Melanie Daiken and James Iliff. He began his teaching career at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana where he lectured from 1970 to 1974 before moving to the University of Leeds to teach under Geoffrey Hill.