Quick Facts
Biography
George Bull OBE KCSG (23 August 1929 - 6 April 2001) was an English translator, author and journalist.
Education
Bull read History at Brasenose College, Oxford.
Career
Journalism
Bull worked for the Financial Times, McGraw-Hill World News and for the Director magazine, of which he was Editor-in-Chief until 1984. He was appointed Director of the Anglo-Japanese Economic Institute in 1986. He was a director of Central Banking Publications and the founder and publisher of the quarterly publications Inside Japan and International Minds.
Translations
He translated six volumes for the Penguin Classics series: Benvenuto Cellini's Autobiography, The Book of the Courtier by Castiglione, Lives of the Artists by Vasari (two volumes), The Prince by Machiavelli (1961), and Pietro Aretino's Selected Letters. His translation of The Prince, though discontinued by Penguin, continues to be praised as the "most stylistically elegant" in English.
He was also Consultant Editor to the Penguin Business Series.
Authorship
His other books include Vatican Politics; Bid for Power (with Anthony Vice), a history of take-over bids; Renaissance Italy, a book for children; Venice: The Most Triumphant City; and Inside the Vatican.
Honours
Bull was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1981 and a Vice-President of the British-Italian Society in 1994. He was awarded an OBE in 1990. George Bull was made Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory in 1999, and was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold rays with Neck Ribbon (Japan) in 1999.