4 June 2013
Poet Oliver Bernard, older brother of the late Spectator Low Life columnist Jeffrey Bernard and of the late art critic Bruce Bernard, has died at 88. Oliver was best known for his Peace Poems and his memoirs and for translating French poet Arthur Rimbaud into English.
He was never as famous as Jeff, played by Peter O’Toole in Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell, but respected in his field. “He was the older brother and nicer, to be honest,” says his friend, fellow poet Eddie Linden.
The Bernards were the sons of architect Oliver Bernard and his wife Dora Hodges, better known as opera singer Fedora Rosell, and third cousins of My Fair Lady actor Stanley Holloway.
