Colin Dexter
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Colin Dexter was born in 1930 at 17 Scotgate, Stamford and went to St John’s Infants School and then to The Bluecoat School. The family moved across the road to 53-56 Scotgate when his father, Alfred, bought the garage from Harry Simpson in 1938/1939. A scholarship took him to Stamford School where he made the most of his opportunities. He then studied Classics at Christ’s College Cambridge. His first love was teaching but, as he became progressively deaf, he worked at The Oxford Delegacy of Local Exams until his retirement in 1988. He was given the Freedom of Oxford in 2001 making him only the third to be awarded this honour after Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi.
When Mr & Mrs Dexter retired in 1956 they moved to Milverton House, 6 Empingham Road, the former home of John Clare Billing, a relative of Helpston’s poet John Clare. Colin was a fan of the poet’s work and some references can be found in his writings. Throughout his life he maintained a keen interest in Stamford and his works contain ‘nods’ to the town of his birth. |
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A modest self-effacing man, Dexter was a writer of great style and intelligence with wide interests. He was responsible for the creation of one of the most enduring figures of modern popular fiction as his thirteen ‘Inspector Morse’ crime novels were adapted for television – he appeared in some of the episodes himself. Such was the stories’ appeal that the spin-offs ‘Lewis’ and ‘Endeavour’ were later made.
Dexter was awarded several Crime Writers’ Awards for his books and one for his short stories collection. In 2000 Colin received an OBE for Services to Literature. In 2011 he was proud to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by The University of Lincoln, and on hearing he was to be honoured he stated that he was ‘so happy as soon as Lincolnshire was mentioned’.
Colin Dexter died on 21st March 2017 in Oxford. In series 8 of ‘Endeavour’ one ‘nod’ to him is a photograph of him when he was at The Bluecoat School. Fame had come full circle.
The blue plaque commemorating Dexter was researched and installed by the Society in 2022.
Dexter was awarded several Crime Writers’ Awards for his books and one for his short stories collection. In 2000 Colin received an OBE for Services to Literature. In 2011 he was proud to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by The University of Lincoln, and on hearing he was to be honoured he stated that he was ‘so happy as soon as Lincolnshire was mentioned’.
Colin Dexter died on 21st March 2017 in Oxford. In series 8 of ‘Endeavour’ one ‘nod’ to him is a photograph of him when he was at The Bluecoat School. Fame had come full circle.
The blue plaque commemorating Dexter was researched and installed by the Society in 2022.
