Edward Fairchild Watling (8 October 1899 - 6 September 1990) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 school-master, classicist and translator. He produced translations for Penguin Classics of Sophocles

Sophocles

Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...

's Theban Plays, nine plays of Plautus

Plautus

Titus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...

 and a selection of Seneca

Seneca the Younger

Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...

's tragedies.

Watling was educated at Christ's Hospital

Christ's Hospital

Christ's Hospital is an English coeducational independent day and boarding school with Royal Charter located in the Sussex countryside just south of Horsham in Horsham District, West Sussex, England...

 and University College, Oxford

University College, Oxford

.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...

.

Watling taught Classics

Classics

Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...

 at King Edward VII School

King Edward VII School (Sheffield)

King Edward VII School is a secondary school and language college located in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. KES, named after the reigning monarch, was formed in 1905 when Wesley College was merged with Sheffield Royal Grammar School on the site of the former on Glossop Road...

 in Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 from 1924 until his retirement in 1960. He contributed to amateur dramatics in Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 both as actor and producer, initially for the Sheffield Playgoers and later in Geoffrey Ost's productions at the Sheffield Playhouse. He also wrote sketches for the West End revues of André Charlot

André Charlot

André Eugene Maurice Charlot was a French impresario known primarily for the highly successful musical revues he staged in London between 1912 and 1937...

, and was a regular reviewer of both books and theatre for the Sheffield Telegraph

Sheffield Telegraph

The Sheffield Telegraph is a weekly newspaper published in Sheffield, England.-History:Founded in 1855 as the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, it was the city's first daily newspaper, published at 08:00 each morning. The newspaper struggled until W. C...

. As "Marcus", he compiled crosswords for The Listener until he was in his seventies.

Watling was married to Cicely Porter (died 1982; one daughter), and died on 6 September 1990.