Bill Howarth was Emeritus Professor of French at the University of Bristol. Educated at Silcoates School and Queen’s College, Oxford, he began his academic career at Jesus College, Oxford, where he was Fellow and Tutor from 1948 to 1966. He succeeded William McCausland Stewart as Professor of Classical French Literature at the University of Bristol in 1966, and remained loyal to that institution until his retirement in 1988.