Philip Vellacott

Philip Humphrey Vellacott (16 January 1907 – 24 August 1997) was an English classical scholar, known for his numerous translations of Greek tragedy.

He was born at Grays, Essex and educated at St Paul's School, London and Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a double first in the Classics Tripos.

[1] During the 1930s, Vellacott taught at Liverpool University, and schools including Dulwich College, London.

He carried on teaching through the Second World War, as he was a conscientious objector.

It was during his time as a teacher that he completed most of his Penguin Books classical translations centred on the works of Aeschylus, Euripides and Theophrastus.