OXFORD poet and translator Sally Purcell has died of a brain tumour.

Born in 1944, she won an open scholarship to Oxford, reading medieval and modern French at Lady Margaret Hall. She established a reputation - as a poet and as something of a character.

An article in the University magazine Isis in 1968 described her: "Dressed in what appears to be only an old and dowdy curtain, wrapped around her, she wanders between the Bear and Bodleian, looking like a Canterbury pilgrim."

Stumped on one occasion for a fancy dress costume, she fashioned an outfit from a copy of the Daily Mirror.

She recalled: "My outfit was a great success - so much so that some partygoers started tearing bits off. When I had only Garth and Live Letters left to cover me, my boyfriend sent me home."

As an undergraduate, she also cultivated an old-fashioned style of diction, never using contractions. "I know that my English is 200 years out of date, but I think that I speak it more pleasantly than most," she told her Isis interviewer.

She stayed in Oxford to complete an MA in 1970 and thereafter rarely left the area.

For many years she lived partly from typing, including several of John Wain's books. Her poetry attracted many admirers for what one reviewer described as its "ghostly music." The Holly Queen, was published in 1971, followed by Dark of Day (1977), Lake and Labyrinth (1985) and Fossil Unicorn last year.

Her translations included a selection of Provencal poems and Helene Cixous's The Exile of James Joyce.

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