Richard Buckle

Richard Buckle
Born 6 August 1916
Warcop, Westmorland, United Kingdom
Died 12 October 2001
Salisbury, United Kingdom
Occupation Ballet critic, author, editor, playwright

Christopher Richard Sandford Buckle, CBE, better known as Richard Buckle (6 August 1916 – 12 October 2001), was a lifelong devotee of ballet, and a well-known ballet critic. He founded the magazine Ballet in 1939, and revived it after the war (during which he served with the Scots Guards, being mentioned in despatches in 1944 during the Italy campaign). Between 1948 and 1955 he was ballet critic for The Observer. He organised a number of highly successful exhibitions, including most notably one in 1954 on the life and work of Diaghilev, first at the Edinburgh Festival and then at Forbes House in London. He also organised the quatercentenary Shakespeare exhibition at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1964-5. His publications include the most comprehensive biographies of Nijinsky (1971) and Diaghilev (1979), and he edited several books, including the autobiography of Lydia Sokolova and the selected diaries of Cecil Beaton. Richard Buckle was appointed CBE in 1979.

Selected writing

  • John Innocent at Oxford, Chatto & Windus (1939)
  • Ballet, Ballet Publications Ltd (magazine 1939-1952)
  • Katherine Dunham: her dancers, singers and musicians, Ballet Publications (1949)
  • The Adventures of a Ballet Critic, Cresset Press (1953)
  • Epstein: An Autobiography by Richard Buckle, Art Treasures Book Club (1955)
  • In Search of Daighilev, Sidgwick & Jackson (1955)
  • Modern ballet Design, Macmillan (1955)
  • The Prettiest Girl in England: the love story of Mrs Fitzherbert's Niece, John Murray (1958)
  • Harewood: a new guide to the Yorkshire seat of the Earls of Harewood, Engish Life Publications (1965)
  • Nijinsky, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1971), ISBN 0-297-00452-2
  • U & Non-U Revisited, Debrett's Peerage (1978), ISBN 0-905649-17-6
  • Diaghilev, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1979), ISBN 0-297-77506-5
  • Buckle at the Ballet: Selected Criticism, Dance Books (1980), ISBN 0-903102-53-6 reviewed in New York Times, August 21, 1981
  • The Most Upsetting Woman (Autobiography 1), Collins (1981), ISBN 0-00-216326-8
  • In the Wake of Diaghilev (Autobiography 2), Collins (1982), ISBN 0-00-2165449
  • George Balanchine: Ballet Master (with John Taras), Hamish Hamilton (1988), ISBN 0-241-12180-9


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