Michael Andrew Screech
Michael Andrew Screech (2 May 1926 – 1 June 2018) was a cleric and a professor of French literature with special interests in the Renaissance, Montaigne and Rabelais. Wartime service. In 1943 Screech entered University College London to read French but after a language aptitude test, he was sent to the secret Bedford Japanese School run by Captain Oswald Tuck RN. He was in the 8th course at Bedford (October 1944 to April 1945), and after completing it he was posted to the Wireless Experimental Centre, Delhi, India, which was an outpost of Bletchley Park. After the Japanese  surrender, he was posted to Japan and was stationed in Kure and Tottori as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force until 1947. Academic career. In the years 1961–84 he was the Fielden Professor of French Language and Literature, at the University College, University of London. From 1993 to 2001 he was an extraordinary fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. From 2003 to 2018 he was an emeritus fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. In 1992, he was honoured as a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. His translation of Montaigne's "Essays" has been widely recognized. His translation of  the François Rabelais novel series "Gargantua and Pantagruel" was also described by Barbara C. Bowen as "faithful, lively, and readable [...] the best to date; it preserves much of the sheer exuberance of the original, while incorporating essential background information missing from most of its predecessors."