Author and academic Richard Hoggart dies aged 95

Richard Hoggart Portrait Pic: Goldsmiths College

Richard Hoggart Portrait Pic: Goldsmiths College

Cultural studies pioneer Richard Hoggart, whose work influenced a generation of students and lecturers, has died aged 95 following a series of illnesses.

Hoggart was best known for The Uses of Literacy, a core Cultural Studies book published in 1957.

He worked at universities across the UK, undertaking his last position as a Warden at Goldsmiths College in 1976.

Following his eight year post at the leading London art college, the main building on Lewisham Way was re-named after him in tribute.

On the news of Richard Hoggart’s passing, Patrick Loughrey, current Warden at Goldsmiths, said: “He meant a great deal to us at Goldsmiths, because surely at no other place is his legacy so manifested.”

“Not only on a professional or academic level, but on a personal level too. Our newly renovated Richard Hoggart Building is a real tribute to him and a reminder of the great contribution he made to shaping and furthering our great College, and making us known today as a place of daring, of challenge, of creativity and of pioneers.”

“But perhaps the most illustrating example of the heritage Hoggart has left can be seen in our students and their learning experience here. I spoke to a graduate the other day and she told me that The Uses of Literacy was the first text she studied here at Goldsmiths. She described him as an ‘academic popstar’ – a choice of word perhaps influenced from Hoggart’s extensive work on popular culture.”

“For Hoggart, students were the most important thing. And that is why it is such a joy to follow the journeys of our students who go out and change the world for the better, having been inspired by his work.”

Hoggart had been suffering from dementia when he died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday morning at a nursing home in North London.

He is survived by his wife, son Paul and daughter Nicola.

His death follows that of his son, Simon Hoggart, who died from cancer in January.

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