Richard Appleton

Richard Appleton (17 January 1932 – 27 April 2005) was an Australian poet, raconteur and editor who became editor-in-chief of the Australian Encyclopaedia and, in 1987, was co-editor with Alex Galloway of the posthumous Lex Banning poetry collection There Was a Crooked Man.

He was educated at North Sydney Boys' High School, the Royal Australian Naval College and Sydney University where he was a devotee of John Anderson and co-edited an issue of the annual Arna.

As a freelance in later years, in conjunction with his wife, Barbara, he compiled the Cambridge Dictionary of Australian Places.

[citation needed] Appleton was described in Clive James's 2003 book As of This Writing as "among the most gifted" Australian poets of his time.

After Appleton's name was mentioned during an ABC talk, James learnt that he was, in fact, still alive and rang to apologise.