The strong cultural links between Cambridge and Iran were celebrated in a private visit to the University by the Iranian Ambassador, His Excellency Mr Rasoul Movahedian.

The Ambassador accepted an invitation to visit Cambridge from the Persian scholar Peter Avery OBE.

Over lunch in his rooms at King’s College, where he has been a Fellow since 1963, Peter welcomed the Ambassador and spoke of his deep affection for Iran’s people and culture:

“Iran has been the principle joy of my life: I have received great happiness from my long association with the country.

“In view of what is going on in the world I hope we can get together a group to discuss the understanding of Iranian and Islamic culture and to make a profound study of Islam and Iran and the value of their contribution to civilisation.”

The Ambassador welcomed these sentiments insisting that Iranians are a pacific people rather than the belligerent invaders they are sometimes portrayed as, and that he was working closely with the British Museum on a major forthcoming exhibition celebrating Iranian culture and spirituality.

After lunch the Ambassador was given a guided tour of King’s College Chapel, The Wren Library at Trinity College, and then the University Library where he viewed examples of the extensive collection of ancient Persian illustrated manuscripts held there.

Peter Avery's lifelong interest in Persian poetry began when he was introduced to a translation of the poems of Omar Kayyam as a child.

His undergraduate education, at the University of Liverpool, was interrupted by World War II, in which he served in the Royal Indian Naval Volunteer Reserve. It was here that he began to learn Persian.

Upon demobilisation in 1946, he entered the School of Oriental and African Studies to read Arabic and Persian, graduating in 1949 to work initially, until 1951, as Educational Liaison Officer with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.

After further employment in Iraq and Iran, in 1958 Peter Avery became a University Lecturer in Persian Language, Literature and History at Cambridge.

Upon his retirement in 1990 he became a Life Fellow of King's College. In 2001 "for the Promotion of Oriental Studies" he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Peter Avery's publications include translations of the Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam, of Attar's Mantiq al-tayr and of the poems of Hafiz, as well as Modern Iran, published in 1963.
 

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