Dr Vivien Noakes, the leading expert on Lear's life and work, has rewritten her classic biography. She was curator of the major exhibition 'Edward Lear, 1812-1888' at the Royal Academy, London and the National Academy of Design, New York. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and previously lecturer at Somerville College, Oxford, her publications include The Painter Edward Lear and Edward Lear: The Complete Verse and Other Nonsense.