My father, Roy Shaw, was a leading figure in adult education and arts policy in the late 20th Century. He didn’t write a major book, but in numerous articles and lectures— many written while he held major policy roles—he laid out a distinctive egalitarian approach to education and the arts. Alongside writers like Raymond Williams and Richard Hoggart (his best friend), Roy was part of the generation of thinkers from working-class backgrounds who developed the distinctive approach to culture and society associated with the early 1960s New Left. In conjunction with the Keele events, I have used my father’s papers as well as published sources to write this draft article on his work:
