author

Hamish Miles

1894–1937

A sharp-eyed literary adviser, journalist, and translator from the French, he helped bring writers such as André Maurois to English-speaking readers. His career was brief but lively, moving from war service and Oxford to publishing, journalism, and the founding of a translators' guild.

1 Audiobook

The Oxford Circus: A Novel of Oxford and Youth

The Oxford Circus: A Novel of Oxford and Youth

by Hamish Miles, Raymond Mortimer

About the author

Born in Edinburgh in 1894, Hamish Miles was educated at Edinburgh Academy and went on to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1913. During the First World War he served overseas with the Friends' Ambulance Service, and after the war he returned for a time to Balliol.

Miles became known in British literary life as a translator from French, especially for his English versions of works by André Maurois. He joined the publishing house Jonathan Cape in 1929 and became widely known in London as a literary adviser.

Later he devoted more of his time to journalism and, only a few months before his death, joined the staff of The Times. He also took the initiative in founding a Translators Guild. He died in Edinburgh on December 27, 1937, aged 43.