Jacqueline Simpson

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Jacqueline Simpson (born 1930) is a prolific, award-winning British researcher and author on folklore.

Career

Simpson studied English Literature and Medieval Icelandic at Bedford College, University of London. She has been, at various times, Editor, Secretary, and President of the Folklore Society. She was awarded the Society's Coote Lake Research Medal in 2008. In 2010, she was appointed visiting professor of folklore at the Sussex Centre of Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy at the University of Chichester, West Sussex. She has a particular interest in local legends (as opposed to international fairy tales), and has published collections of this genre from Iceland, Scandinavia in general, and England (the latter in collaboration with the late Jennifer Westwood). She has also written on the folklore of various English regions, and was co-author with Steve Roud of the Penguin Dictionary of English Folklore.

She has been a point of reference for Terry Pratchett since he met her at a book signing in 1997. Pratchett, who was then researching his novel Carpe Jugulum, was asking everyone in the queue how many "magpie" rhymes they knew; and while most people gave one answer – the theme from the TV series Magpie – Simpson was able to supply considerably more. According to Pratchett's version of their conversation, there were "about nineteen", but she suspects this is creative embroidery. Their encounter eventually led to collaboration.

Personal life

Simpson lives in West Sussex, England.

Selected publications

Articles

• Simpson, Jacqueline (1966-03-01). "Otherworld Adventures in an Icelandic Saga". Folklore. 77 (1): 1–20. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1967-09-01). "Some Scandinavian Sacrifices". Folklore. 78 (3): 190–202. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1969-06-01). "Legends of Chanctonbury Ring". Folklore. 80 (2): 122–131. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1973-09-01). "Sussex Local Legends". Folklore. 84 (3): 206–223. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1974-03-01). "The Function of Folklore in 'Jane Eyre' and 'Wuthering Heights'". Folklore. 85 (1): 47–61. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1975-09-01). "Nixon's Prophecies in Their Historical Setting". Folklore. 86 (3–4): 201–207. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1978-01-01). "Fifty British Dragon Tales: An Analysis". Folklore. 89 (1): 79–93. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1979-01-01). "'Wændel' and the Long Man of Wilmington". Folklore. 90 (1): 25–28. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1981-01-01). "Rationalized Motifs in Urban Legends". Folklore. 92 (2): 203–207. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1982-01-01). "Obituary: Peter Mason Opie, M.A. (1918–1982)". Folklore. 93 (2): 223–223. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1983-01-01). "Obituary: Professor William R. Bascom (1912–1981)". Folklore. 94 (2): 251–251. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1985-01-01). "Obituary: Georges Henri Rivière, 1897–1985". Folklore. 96 (2): 255–255. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1986-01-01). "God's visible judgements: the Christian dimension of landscape legends". Landscape History. 8 (1): 53–58. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1989-01-01). "Folklore in Folklore: Trends Since 1959". Folklore. 100 (1): 3–8. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1991-01-01). "'Be Bold, but not Too Bold': Female Courage in Some British and Scandinavian Legends". Folklore. 102 (1): 16–30. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1994-01-01). "Margaret Murray: Who Believed Her, and Why?". Folklore. 105 (1–2): 89–96. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1995-01-01). ""The Weird Sisters Wandering": Burlesque Witchery in Montgomerie's Flyting". Folklore. 106 (1–2): 9–20. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1995-01-01). "Ellen Ettlinger, 1902–1994". Folklore. 106 (1–2): 86–86. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1996-01-01). "Witches and Witchbusters". Folklore. 107 (1–2): 5–18. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1997-01-01). ""The Rules of Folklore" in the Ghost Stories of M.R. James". Folklore. 108 (1–2): 9–18. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2006-01-01). "Boundaries for Ghosts: A Technique in Folk Exorcism". Folk Life. 45 (1): 70–76. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2003-03-01). "Repentant soul or walking corpse? Debatable apparitions in medieval England". Folklore. 114 (3): 389–402. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2005-08-01). "The Miller's Tomb: Facts, Gossip, and Legend". Folklore. 116 (2): 189–200. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2006-08-01). "Hilda Ellis Davidson (1914–2006)". Folklore. 117 (2): 215–216. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2008-08-01). "Seeking the Lore of the Land". Folklore. 119 (2): 131–141. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2011-04-01). "On the Ambiguity of Elves". Folklore. 122 (1): 76–83. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2015-05-04). "Sir Terry Pratchett OBE (1948–2015)". Folklore. 126 (2): 232–234. . Template:Catalog lookup link.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2017-07-03). "Venetia Newall (1935–2017)". Folklore. 128 (3): 316–317. . Template:Catalog lookup link.

Books

• Simpson, Jacqueline (1965). The Northmen Talk. A Choice of Tales from Iceland, Phoenix House/Dent, & University of Wisconsin Press
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1965). The Northmen talk. A choice of tales from Iceland. Translated and with introduction by Jacqueline Simpson, with a foreword by Eric Linklater. London; Madison: Phoenix House; University of Wisconsin Press. Template:OCLC.
• Garmonsway, George Norman; Simpson, Jacqueline (1968). Beowulf and its analogues. Translated by G. N. Garmonsway and Jacqueline Simpson. Including Archaeology and Beowulf by Hilda Ellis Davidson. With plates. London; New York: J. M. Dent & Sons; E. P. Dutton & Co. Template:OCLC.
• Partridge, Eric; Simpson, Jacqueline (1972). The Penguin dictionary of historical slang. Harmondsworth. Penguin Books. Template:ISBN. Template:OCLC.
• Simpson, Jacqueline; Galsworthy, Gay (1973). The folklore of Sussex. London: Batsford. Template:ISBN. Template:OCLC.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1976). The folklore of the Welsh border. London: B.T. Batsford. Template:ISBN. Template:OCLC.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1980). British dragons. London: Batsford. Template:ISBN. Template:OCLC.
• Simpson, Jacqueline; Wilson, Eva (1987). Everyday life in the Viking age. New York: Dorset Press. Template:ISBN. Template:OCLC.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (1987). European mythology. New York: P. Bedrick Books. Template:ISBN. Template:OCLC.
• Simpson, Jacqueline; Gowdy, Caroline (1989). Scandinavian Folktales (Penguin Folklore Library / Puffin) Template:ISBN
• Simpson, Jacqueline; Roud, Stephen (2003). A dictionary of English folklore. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN. Template:OCLC.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2004) Icelandic Folktales and Legends (Revealing History) 2nd ed., NPI Media Group, Template:ISBN
• Simpson, Jacqueline; Westwood, Jennifer. (2005; reissued 2006). The Lore of the Land: a Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys, Penguin Template:ISBN Template:ISBN
• The Folklore of Discworld (with Terry Pratchett), Doubleday (2008) Template:ISBN. 2nd, enlarged edition. Corgi 2009 Template:ISBN. 3rd enlarged edition, Corgi (2014) Template:ISBN (same ISBN as 2nd edition)
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2010). Elves: nasty or nice?. Wincanton, Somerset: Discworld Emporium :. Template:OCLC.
• Simpson, Jacqueline (2010). Green Men and White Swans: the Folklore of British Pub Names, Random House Books Template:ISBN