The heart of England

Ivor John Carnegie Brown CBE (25 April 1891 – 22 April 1974) was a British journalist and man of letters. After graduating from Oxford with top honours, he joined the civil service, but left after two days to pursue a freelance career as a writer. He later joined the staff of The Manchester Guardian as its London drama critic, and subsequently wrote for, and for six years edited, The Observer. He was widely regarded as the leading drama critic of his generation. Brown was a prolific author; he published more than seventy-five books – some of them compilations of his journalism, and others about words, their origins, meaning and use.