- Roger Stevens
Sir Roger Bentham Stevens (
June 8 ,1906 -February 20 ,1980 ) was a Britishacademic ,diplomat andcivil servant .In 1928 Stevens entered the
Consular Service , serving over the next three years inBuenos Aires ,New York ,Antwerp ,Denver , and theForeign Office inLondon .Stevens held the following positions in his diplomatic career:
*Secretary of British Civil Secretariat,Washington D.C. , 1944-1946,
*Foreign Office staff, 1946-1948,
*Assistant Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office, 1948-1951,
*BritishAmbassador toSweden , 1951-1954,
*British Ambassador toPersia , 1954-1958,
*Deputy Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office, 1958-1963,
*Advisor to First Secretary of State onCentral Africa , 1963-1970.He married his first wife, Constance Hallam Hipwell (died 1976), in 1931, and they later had a son.In 1962, Stevens published "
The Land of the Great Sophy ", and this was followed later by "First View of Persia ".He was
Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity of Leeds between 1963 and 1970, and held other positions in local government and thecivil service :
*Chairman ofYorkshire andHumberside Economic Planning Council, 1965-1970,
*Panel of Inquiry intoGreater London Development Plan member, 1970-1972,
*Chairman of the Committee on Mineral Planning Control, 1972-1974,
*United Nations Administrative Tribunal (UNAT ) member, 1972-1977.Stevens' papers were deposited in
Churchill Archives ,Cambridge by his widow, Lady Jane Stevens (née Chandler) in 1984.Perhaps his more lasting legacy, however, is the Roger Stevens Building on the campus ofLeeds University . Designed and built in the 1970s, it is notable for its futuristic architecture andlabyrinthine floor plans, and has for years been both loved and lampooned by students.
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