Remembering Douglas Johnson

Simon Hoggart writes:
Douglas Johnson, who has died at the age of 80, was one of the most distinguished — and most entertaining — of the academic writers who have appeared in the columns of The Spectator. In fact, the word ‘academic’ has perhaps the wrong connotations, for in spite of Douglas’s great scholarship, few people working in university education were less remote; as a lifelong student of France, he was fascinated by the real life and real people of that country. For instance, many historians who have written about the Dreyfus affair used it to create ponderous studies of social and political change. Douglas knew that it was fundamentally a tremendous story and a great drama, which is why his book on the subject, France and the Dreyfus Affair (1966), conveys the feel of the country and its era far more vigorously than screeds of dense, ideological analysis.

He knew many French politicians personally.