Robert Allason Furness

Sir
Robert Allason Furness
KBE CMG
Born1883
Rugby, England
Died4 December 1954
Little Shelford, England
EducationRugby School
Alma materKing's College, Cambridge

Sir Robert Allason Furness KBE CMG (1883 – 4 December 1954), also known as Robin Furness, was Professor of English at Cairo University and the representative in Egypt of the British Council between 1945 and 1950.[1][2][3][4] He was an expert adviser on the establishment of BBC Arabic, the BBC's first radio station to broadcast in Arabic.[5]

Shortly after Sir Robert's death, the writer and historian Hilary Wayment sent a tribute to The Times stating that Sir Robert 'seemed to have the gift of perpetual youth and to enter into the enthusiasms of his younger colleagues with the zest of an undergraduate'.[6] The tribute concluded that to his friends in England and Egypt, 'the lasting impression he will leave behind is one of generous and high-spirited enjoyments, and of sheer charm and quality of mind'.[6] He was also described as 'a very tall, elegant, sardonic man, learned about the poets of Ancient Alexandria, and with a line in extravagant bawdry'.[7]

  1. ^ Obituary in The Times, Sir Robert A. Furness, 6 December 1954, p.10
  2. ^ Moggridge, Donald (2 April 1992). Maynard Keynes: An Economist's Biography. Routledge. p. 877. ISBN 9780415051415. Retrieved 15 June 2019 – via Internet Archive. robert allason furness cambridge.
  3. ^ SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 7 JUNE, 1951, Issue 39243, p. 3081
  4. ^ Furness, Sir Robert Allason. Oxford University Press. 16 June 2019. OCLC 5557289752.
  5. ^ Allday, Louis. "Tune in: The fascinating story of how BBC started its first foreign language radio station in Arabic". Scroll.in. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  6. ^ a b The Times, 9 December 1954, p.10
  7. ^ Forster, Edward Morgan (14 November 2004). Alexandria, a History and Guide and Pharos and Pharillon. Andre Deutsch. ISBN 9780233050782 – via Google Books.