Background
He was born in 1948, the son of John Hunter Padel and his wife Hilda (née Barlow), daughter of Sir Alan Barlow, 2nd Baronet and his wife Nora, (née Darwin), through whom he is a great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin.
( Although the legends of Arthur have been popular throug...)
Although the legends of Arthur have been popular throughout Europe from the Middle Ages on, the earliest references to Arthur are actually found in Welsh literature, beginning with the Welsh-Latin Historia Brittonum, which dates from the ninth century. In Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature, O. J. Padel provides a survey of medieval Welsh literary references to Arthur and emphasizes their importance to Arthurian studies as a whole. Padel considers texts from different genres alongside one another, from the folk legends associated with magic and animals to those portraying Arthur as literary hero, soldier, and defender of country and faith. Other figures associated with Arthur, such as Cai, Bedwyr, and Gwenhwyfar, are also discussed.
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He was born in 1948, the son of John Hunter Padel and his wife Hilda (née Barlow), daughter of Sir Alan Barlow, 2nd Baronet and his wife Nora, (née Darwin), through whom he is a great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin.
He was awarded an Master of Literature for his thesis on the inscriptions of Pictland by the University of Edinburgh in 1972. He was President of the English Place-Name Society, from 2004 to 2014, and is a Past President of the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland. He edits the Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall.
Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature (Writers of Wales series).
Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000. (pbk) 0708316891 (hbk) Cornish Place-name Elements (English Place-Name Society series.
V56/57). Nottingham: English Place-Name Society, 1985.
: Number price X J. Donington, Lincolnshire: Shaun Tyas, 2008. (hbk) South. A. J. (Devon and Cornwall Record Society New series.
V 41). Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society, 2000.
(pbk) J. 10, Cornwall / edited by Caroline and Frank Thorn from a draft translation prepared by Oliver Padel (History From the Sources series). Chichester: Phillimore, 1979.
(hbk) (pbk) L. Doctorate. J. J. M. M. J.
( Although the legends of Arthur have been popular throug...)
He was a founding member of staff of the Institute of Cornish Studies (in the Charles Thomas era), until around 1991, when he moved to Cambridge. He is a Member of Council of the Devon and Cornwall Record Society.