Inspiring People

He has been awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy following completion of his thesis Winckelmann’s “Philosophy of Art”: A Prelude to German Classicism, under the supervision of Professor Ruediger Goerner, Head of Queen Mary’s School of Languages, Linguistics & Film.

From Jewish Roots

Dr North was born into a Jewish family in North-West Bohemia, now Czech Republic, in January 1918, the same year World War I ended. After the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938 he travelled as a student to Holland then to London where he was classified as a “Friendly Alien” and not interned as other Jews with Austrian, Polish or Hungarian papers were.

After three years in the Civil Defence in Bermondsey he spent a further four in the Royal Air Force, where he changed his name from Jan Neuberg to John North.

Fear of Atomic War

Fearing atomic warfare in Europe he emigrated with his family to Chile after World War II, where he later joined British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) as a Project Manager in their growing computer department, retiring in 1983.

Embracing Education

Temporarily without a job as a new IBM computer was being installed at BOAC, he was encouraged by his Personnel department to start studying in his 60s. Inspired by evening classes in Archeology, he persuaded his manager to let him study the subject and obtained a Diploma in Archaeology and later an MA in Classical Civilisation from Birkbeck. While studying classical Greek and Latin it was recommended to him to study modern languages at Queen Mary. His PhD thesis was concerned with the German language as it developed in the mid-eighteenth century as a vehicle for the description of classical sculpture.

Dr North commented:

“The doctorate is a great honour and achievement – I enjoyed the research and the discovery of connections between German pre-classical and classical literary aestheticism. I will not use the title Dr. – at my age it would not be sensible. I have no clearly defined plans but will continue research in the area of my expertise. In what form is unclear at present. I will consult Professor Goerner on the choices open to a post-doctorate research student.”