Michael Ratcliffe, who has died aged 89, was the former theatre critic of the Observer. He was one of the last of the “man of letters” breed of journalist who encompassed all the arts, with experience, erudition and a regard for the great tradition, especially in Europe, but an open, expansive and always analytical attitude to innovation.
Most of his work was that of a literary editor and critic. When I read his reviews as chief book reviewer on the Times for a decade in the 1970s, I could not believe there was one person writing these extraordinary short essays across every topic, week in, week out. In this respect, he was a latter-day Philip Toynbee, or Anthony Burgess.
