William Dolby

One of the foremost experts on the Chinese language, culture and history, a highly respected and renowned lecturer in Mandarin and father of five, William (Bill) Dolby spent his life surpassing academic excellence. Bill sadly passed away in 2015, but right to the last he freely shared his deep love of a subject and in so doing created a truly inspirational and sound foundation in those who took the time to listen. As a true master the respect that he gained from his peers and from students, friends and colleagues was indisputably a priceless rarity.

From the very early days when he trained in the Royal Air Force and studied at the London School of Oriental Studies, through his First Class Honors Degree and PHD at Christs College in Cambridge, well past his retirement as a Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, Department of Oriental Studies, he enthusiastically devoted himself to his translations, projects and writings. He amazingly produced over forty publications (his Chinese Culture Series, mainstream published and individual works), many of which were under his own publishing company of Carreg Publishers and with various other works picked-up by the mainstream publishing houses. His last translation, as late as 2013, was "Lao She's, Mr Ma and Son" published by Penguin - a translation that Bill quietly informed was in fact a story that he originally translated back in the 1960’s.