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Noel Gilroy Annan, Baron Annan

2 of 9 portraits of Noel Gilroy Annan, Baron Annan

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Noel Gilroy Annan, Baron Annan

by Glynn Anthony Williams
Hopton Wood limestone bust, 1993
29 3/4 in. (755 mm) high
Commissioned, 1993
Primary Collection
NPG 6220

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Glynn Anthony Williams (1939-), Sculptor and Professor of Sculpture. Artist or producer of 1 portrait, Sitter in 1 portrait.

This portraitback to top

Annan's prominent domed forehead and expression of alert intelligence in this large and powerful portrait bust are a monument to the Oxbridge dons who in the 1950s and 1960s made a significant contribution to public life.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery: An Illustrated Guide, 2000, p. 230
  • Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 230 Read entry

    I have always liked the fact that the late twentieth-century collection should be dominated by the large and powerful portrait bust of Noel Annan, who is not necessarily well known to the general public but whose career as an academic politician epitomises the post-war liberal consensus. After a distinguished career in military intelligence, Annan went back to King's College, Cambridge, as a politics don, became Provost aged 39 and then migrated to the corridors of power in London by becoming Provost of University College, London. His prominent domed forehead and expression of alert intelligence are a monument to the Oxbridge dons who in the 1950s and 1960s made a significant contribution to public life.

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 13

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1993back to top

Current affairs

The Conservative Party is attacked in the media for 'sleaze'. Two MP's resign over sex scandals, two over the 'cash-for-questions affair', and one dies in bizarre and embarrassing circumstances. Journalist Max Clifford was responsible for exposing many of the scandals.
Black teenager Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racist attack by a gang of white youths.

Art and science

Rachel Whiteread wins the Turner Prize for her sculpture House; a concrete cast of the inside of a Victorian terraced house in East London. Controversy was caused by the work itself, by it winning the Turner Prize, and by the decision of Tower Hamlets council to demolish the sculpture.
British inventor James Dyson revolutionises the vacuum cleaner with his eponymous design.

International

Czechoslovakia is divided into two countries: the Slovak Republic (Slovakia) and the Czech Republic. The division was peaceful and democratic and so became known as the 'Velvet Divorce', recalling the 'Velvet Revolution' of 1989 by which Communism in Czechoslovakia was overthrown through peaceful mass demonstrations.

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