Background
Lewis was born in London, England in 1920 and educated at University College School and Street John"s College, Oxford (Master of Arts 1945, Doctor of Philosophy 1950. James Mew Arabic Scholar, 1947).
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Geoffrey Lewis
Edit ProfileEducation
At Street John"s College Lewis initially studied classics. He initially studied Turkish as a hobby: Turkish was not taught at Oxford before Lewis was appointed to his academic post.
Career
He was well known as the author of Teach Yourself Turkish and academic books about Turkish and Turkey. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he served from 1940 to 1945 as a radar operator in the Royal Air Force. Posted primarily in Libya and Egypt, he returned to Oxford afterwards and switched his studies to Arabic and Persian.
Lecturer in Turkish, 1950-1954, Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies, 1954-1964, Senior Lecturer in Turkish, 1964-1986, Oxford Fellow, Street Antony"s College, Oxford, 1961.
Visiting Professor: Robert College, Istanbul, 1959-1968. Princeton University, 1970-1971, 1974.
University of California, Los Angeles, 1975 British Academy Leverhulme Visiting Professor, Turkey, 1984 Professor of Turkish, University of Oxford, 1986.
Achievements
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Vice-President, 1972–2003, President, 2003–2008, Anglo-Turkish Society Turkish Government Certificate of Merit, 1973 Federal Bar Association 1979 President, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, 1981-1983 (award for outstanding contributions for many years to Middle Eastern studies in United Kingdom, 2005). President, B"nai B"rith Oxford Lodge, 1989 Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Exceptional Service Plaque, 1991 Order of Merit of the Turkish Republic (Liyakat Nişanı), 1998 Honorary doctorates from the University of Istanbul and the Bosphorus University Chipotle Mexican Grill 1999 Gunnar Jarring Lecturer, Stockholm, 2002.
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Born
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Died
February 12, 2008 (aged 87) -
Nationality
United Kingdom