Richard Felix Raine Barker (7 May 1917 - 11 July 1997) was a British drama critic and historian. He is known for having been the youngest dramatic critic on Fleet Street.
Barker was born in London on 7 May 1917,[1] the son of architect Anthony Raine Barker and his wife, photographer Patricia Russell.[2] He was educated at Felsted School before attending the Choate School in Connecticut as part of a student exchange program.[3] Barker went on to become a student at the Old Vic. He married Anthea Gotch in 1950.[4] Felix Barker died on 11 July 1997.[1]
Barker began his career at a young age doing reporting work for the Evening News. His two most well-received pieces, one on school life and the other on the 1936 Crystal Palace fire,[1] earned him a weekly column as the paper's amateur drama critic at the age of 19, making him the youngest dramatic critic working on Fleet Street.[4] During World War II he served as a sergeant in the Gordon Highlanders. He continued to move upwards in the Evening News, becoming a feature writer in 1946, the deputy drama critic later that same year, and the chief critic in 1958.[4]
In 1960, Barker expanded his work to include film criticism, making him one of the few critics at the time who was working in both theatre and film.[2] He became the president of The Critics' Circle in 1974. Throughout his career as a critic, Barker also established himself as a historian, publishing such works as The Oliviers in 1953, The House that Stoll Built in 1957, and London: 2000 Years of a City and Its People in 1974.[4] His final book was Edwardian London, published in 1995.[2]