Emeritus Professor of French at the University of St Andrews, Scotland died on 15th March, 2003.

   After wartime service with the RAF, Owen joined the Department of French at St Andrews in 1951, retiring in 1988. Over the years he published many books and articles on medieval studies, including "The Evolution of the Grail Legend" (1968), his translation of Chrétien's Arthurian Romances for Everyman's Library, a co-edition of "Two Old French Gauvain Romances", plus work on the "The Song of Roland", "Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen and Legend", Knighthood in Medieval Literature, and other books. In recent years, he worked on the thirteenth- century Arthurian romance of "Fergus of Galloway: Knight of King Arthur", with its detailed Scottish setting. His last book was "The Wandering Giant In Literature: From Polyphemus to Papageno" tracing the figure from the classics through Arthurian literature to "The Magic Flute".