Kenneth Clark

The Right Honourable The Lord Clark OM CH KCB FBA
Clark in the library at Osterley Park, presenting the BBC TV series Civilisation
Born	Kenneth McKenzie Clark (1903-07-13)13 July 1903 London, England
Died	21 May 1983(1983-05-21) (aged 79) Hythe, Kent, England
Alma mater	Trinity College, Oxford
Occupation	Author, broadcaster, art historian
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Jane Martin (m. 1927; d. 1976) Nolwen de Janzé-Rice (m. 1977; d. 1989)

Kenneth McKenzie Clark, Baron Clark, OM, CH, KCB, FBA (13 July 1903 – 21 May 1983) was a British author, museum director, broadcaster, and one of the best-known art historians and aesthetes of his generation, writing a series of books that appealed to a wide public, while remaining a serious scholar. In 1969, he achieved international fame as the writer, producer and presenter of the BBC Television series Civilisation, which pioneered television documentary series combining expert personalized narration with lavish photography on location.

Clark was born in London, the only child of Kenneth MacKenzie Clark and Margaret Alice McArthur. The Clarks were a wealthy Scottish family with roots in the textile trade (the "Clark" in Coats & Clark threading). His great-great-grandfather had invented the cotton spool. Kenneth Clark the elder, reputedly "the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo," had retired in 1909 at the age of 41 to become a member of the 'idle rich' (so described by Kenneth Clark in his autobiography, and W. D. Rubinstein in The Biographical Dictionary of Life Peers).

Clark was educated at Wixenford School,Winchester College and Trinity College, Oxford, where he studied the history of art. In 1927 he married a fellow Oxford student, Elizabeth Jane Martin, who was Irish and the daughter of Dr. Emily Winifred Dickson, first female Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. The couple had three children: Alan, in 1928, and twins Colette (known as Celly) and Colin in 1932.