Cecil Parrott

{{Short description|British diplomat, translator, writer and scholar (1909–1984)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox ambassador

| honorific_prefix = Sir

| name = Cecil Parrott

| honorific_suffix = KCMG OBE

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| ambassador_from = United Kingdom

| country = Czechoslovakia

| term_start = 1960

| term_end = 1966

| predecessor = Sir Paul Grey

| successor = Sir William Barker

| module = {{Infobox academic | embed = yes

| birth_name = Cecil Cuthbert Parrott

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1909|01|29}}

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| death_date = {{death date and age|1984|06|23|1909|01|29}}

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| known_for = Translation of The Good Soldier Švejk

| title = Professor

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| children = Jasper Parrott

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| alma_mater = Peterhouse

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| era = 20th century

| discipline = Russian and Soviet Studies

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| workplaces = Lancaster University

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Sir Cecil Cuthbert Parrott {{postnominals|country=GBR|KCMG|OBE}} (29 January 1909–23 June 1984) was a British diplomat, translator, writer and scholar.

After studies at Peterhouse, Cambridge, he became a teacher. He joined the Foreign Office in 1939. His diplomatic career culminated with his posting to Prague, where he was the British Ambassador from 1960 to 1966. On retiring from the Foreign Office, he became first Professor of Russian and Soviet Studies and later Professor of Central and South-Eastern European Studies and Director of the Comenius Centre at the University of Lancaster.

Parrott is best known for his translation of Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk. He also translated some of Hašek's short stories, The Red Commissar.{{Citation | author1=Hašek, Jaroslav | title=The red commissar : including further adventures of the good soldier Švejk and other stories | year=1981 | publication-date=1981 | publisher=W. Heinemann | isbn=978-0-434-31376-1 }} He also wrote a study of Hašek's short stories.{{Citation | author1=Parrott, Cecil Sir | title=Jaroslav Hašek : a study of Švejk and the short stories | date=18 March 1982 | publication-date=1982 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-24352-0 }}

He wrote two autobiographical volumes, The Tightrope{{Citation | author1=Parrott, Cecil Sir | title=The tightrope | year=1975 | publication-date=1975 | publisher=Faber and Faber | isbn=978-0-571-10256-3 }} and The Serpent and the Nightingale,{{Citation | author1=Parrott, Cecil Sir | title=The serpent and the nightingale | year=1977 | publication-date=1977 | publisher=Faber | isbn=978-0-571-10869-5 }} as well as his biography of Hašek, The Bad Bohemian.{{Citation | author1=Parrott, Cecil Sir | title=The bad Bohemian : the life of Jaroslav Hašek, creator of The good soldier Švejk | year=1978 | publication-date=1978 | publisher=Bodley Head | isbn=978-0-370-10344-0 }}{{Citation | author1=Parrott, Cecil Sir | title=The bad Bohemian : a life of Jaroslav Hašek creator of the good soldier Švejk | year=1983 | publication-date=1983 | publisher=Abacus | isbn=978-0-349-12698-2 }}

His son, Jasper Parrott, is a businessman involved in artists' management.{{Citation | author1=Europa Publications | title=The International Who's Who 2004 | year=2003 | publication-date=2003 | publisher=Psychology Press | isbn=978-1-857-43217-6 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/internationalwho2004ond }} https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=neKm1X6YPY0C&pg