As Professor Gale R. Owen-Crocker retires as Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at the University of Manchester and Director of the Manchester Centre for Anglo- Saxon Studies, it is a fruitful moment to look back and reflect on the breadth of her research and influence. As is readily apparent from the list of her publications (see pp. 17–24), Gale's contributions as a scholar, editor, and administrator are impressive, and not least a testament to her work ethic. In the coming year alone, she will see a co-edited volume of a journal, three co-edited collections, and four articles go to press. When in 1979 she published her first article, “Wynflæd's Wardrobe”, in Anglo- Saxon England, she little knew how long and successful a career lay ahead.

Gale Frances Owen was born on 16 January 1947, in Newcastle upon Tyne. She was a post-war baby in every sense; her father, Major James Arthur Owen, returned from the battlefields of World War II, and Gale was born to “Jim” and Frances Gale Wetherell Owen a year and a half later. Her parents were from Manchester, and although she grew up in Newcastle, she always retained the Manchester accent of her parents. There were early signs of her future interests – a school essay in honor of Bede, a summer at university spent digging at the site of his nearby monastery at Jarrow. Like Bede, Gale distinguished herself early in her studies. She first attended a small private school in Newcastle with an inspirational headmaster who believed in giving bright pupils their heads and moving them up if they were capable of it. As a result, she took her GCEs (General Certificate of Education) two years early, at 14 instead of 16, and took three years over her A levels, spending time doing extra reading. She took A level English at 16 and French and History at 17, finishing grammar school a year early. The University of Newcastle upon Tyne accepted the young 17-year-old, and she graduated with first class honors in English Language and Literature in 1968. At university, she was strongly influenced by Professor Richard Bailey, whose lectures on Beowulf were illustrated by archaeological evidence, and led to Gale taking his course on Anglo-Saxon Art and Archaeology.