Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1957 - 1972 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1 folder
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Terence James Stannus Gray was born in Felixstowe, Suffolk, England on 14 September 1895. He was raised on an estate in the Gog Magog Hills outside Cambridge, England and educated at Ascham St Vincent's School, Eastbourne, Eton and Oxford University. Early in life he pursued an interest in Egyptology which culminated in the publication of two books on ancient Egyptian history and culture in 1923. In 1926, Gray, with no previous practical theatrical experience, opened the Cambridge Festival Theatre as an experimental playhouse. After he had apparently exhausted his interest in the theatre, his thoughts turned towards philosophy and metaphysics. This led to a period of travel throughout Asia. Between the years 1958 and 1974 eight books and articles in various periodicals appeared under the pseudonym "Wei Wu Wei". In the later part of his life he lived with his second wife, the Georgian princess Natalie Margaret Imeretinsky, in Monaco and became interested in Georgian history.
Gray maintained his family's racehorses in England and Ireland and in 1957 his horse Zarathrustra won the Ascot Gold Cup, ridden by jockey Lester Piggott in the first of his eleven wins of that race.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Name of creator
Administrative history
Name of creator
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This is a series of correspondence mainly between W.E.D. Allen and Terence Gray and Gray's wife, the Georgian princess Natalie Margaret Imeretinsky, mostly concerning Georgian genealogy.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
This was kept as a single series there is only correspondence material within the folder.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
- French