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GAZETTE
For more than thirty years Percival served
as dance critic of The Times; the first, as he
proudly pointed out, to sign his name to his
reviews when the paper dropped its tradition
of anonymity. His capacity for watching dance
was legendary, his tall figure a familiar sight;
seven performances a week was nothing out
of the ordinary. Virtually every cast change was
covered, if press tickets were unavailable he
went to the box office like any member of the
public, and he traveled extensively, frequently
at his own expense, to watch dance in Europe
or the USA.
John Percival was born on 16 March, 1927 in
Walthamstow, East London, the older of the
two sons of Cecil Percival, a railwayman, and his
wife Phoebe. He attended Sir George Monoux
grammar school where he proved an intelligent
and hardworking pupil, eventually winning a
place at Catz. His first visit to the ballet was
an open-air performance by the then Sadler’s
Wells Ballet in Victoria Park, Hackney.
From then on he went to every dance
performance he could, paying for his tickets
through odd jobs, and frequently walking
home to Walthamstow, even from as far away
as Hammersmith. It was during this period
that he met the future critic Clive Barnes
(1948, English) who became a life-long friend.
After two years’ hospital service (he was a
conscientious objector) Percival went up to
Oxford to read English, where both he and
Barnes attended Catz. They were instrumental
in reviving the Oxford Ballet Club and its
magazine, Arabesque, which they sold in the
street outside the Royal Opera House.
On graduating, he looked for a job, ‘if only
to pay for the ballet tickets’. He found
a temporary opening with the London
Ambulance Service, which led to an
administrative career with the London County
Council.
Meanwhile he and Barnes were writing about
dance for any publication that would take
their work. An early outlet was the magazine
Dance & Dancers with which Percival was to
be closely associated until financial pressures
forced its closure in 1994. His first job as
a newspaper critic was for a short lived
publication called The New Daily, which he
cheerfully described as a ‘fascist rag’.
Barnes meanwhile had become the first
specialist dance critic of The Times and when
in 1965 he moved to New York, Percival was
invited to replace him. At that time the arts
occupied just one page, so space was at a
premium and it was essential to write quickly
(overnight reviewing was the norm), exactly to
length and very concisely. When the late John
Higgins became Arts Editor both space and
coverage expanded.
As a critic, Percival was marked by his
independence of thought which sometimes
brought him into conflict with the dance
establishment. He was always open to
new ideas and anxious to communicate his
enthusiasm to his readers. He was particularly
interested in spotting and encouraging new
talent among dancers, choreographers and
writers.
In 1997 it was decided that after thirty-two
years, The Times needed a new voice to cover
dance and Percival stepped down, not without
some reluctance on his part. He then began
regular reviewing for The Independent which
continued until 2003. Even after that he
reviewed regularly for the on-line magazine,
DanceView Times, also writing on dance for
The Stage.
Confined to the house by illness from
2008 onwards, he continued to seek every
opportunity to write, and contributed many
obituaries for The Times. He was the author
of a number of books on dance including
biographies of Rudolph Nureyev and the
choreographer John Cranko. His book about
the Ballets Russes, The World of Diaghilev
was described by the ballerina Lydia
Sokolova as her ‘favourite book about my old
company’.
ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE 2012/59