MALCOLM WILLCOCK was Professor of Latin at University College London, 1980-91, a Homeric scholar of distinction, and a leading figure in the late 20th-century modernisation of the teaching of classics in Britain.

Malcolm Maurice Willcock was born in 1925 and educated at Fettes College. He read classics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and was a research Fellow there in 1951-52. In 1952 he was elected a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, becoming senior tutor in 1962. In 1965 he joined the new University of Lancaster as its first Professor of Classics. In 1966 he became Principal of Bowland College, at a crucial stage in the university’s development. In this he played a leading role, and was Pro-Vice-Chancellor from 1975. In 1980 he moved to the chair of Latin at UCL where he was also Vice-Provost, 1988-91.

In 1999 his translation of Arrian’s treatise on hunting with dogs, Cynegeticus, appeared, and in 2005 he co-edited a translation of the Homeric studies of the German scholar Franz Albracht, Battle and Battle Description in Homer.

Willcock chose the commentary form for his major publications, reserving his treatment of specific issues, above all on the Homeric poems, for articles. His commentaries were designed to be accessible to students, and succeeded admirably, combining a lightness of touch with a sense of what is important, helped by his commendably uncluttered annotations. He communicated the literary value of the text as well as the pleasure to be derived from it. That the commentaries are also significant contributions to scholarship is due to his command of linguistic and technical details. Willcock had a profound understanding of Greek and Latin metre — as a Cambridge undergraduate he had won the Porson Prize for Greek verse composition.

Willcock believed in participating actively in university governance, and held administrative posts in the three universities at which he taught. He was a conscientious and informed administrator, a brisk and organised chairman of meetings, sensible and sincere (as even those opposed to his views — sometimes strongly expressed for such a modest man — came to admit).

He headed his departments at Lancaster and London with firmness but with great generosity towards, and support for, innovation. He preferred to communicate with colleagues on everyday issues by letter. Chance encounters between lectures or over coffee could then be devoted to other matters.

He was endlessly patient with students, whose admiration for him was sometimes mixed with uncertainty provoked by his seemingly naive, but pedagogically effective questions. (“Does he really not know who Plutarch is?” a troubled undergraduate once asked). A riveting lecturer, handsome and articulate, he paced his exposition to suit his audience, generated enthusiasm and had an unfailing sense of occasion.

In 1970s Lancaster he was almost alone among the staff in wearing his academic gown to lectures — it added to the drama of his Homer classes. At UCL, as a professor of Latin best known as a Homeric scholar, he practised the self-denying ordinance of teaching only Latin until close to the end of his tenure, when he became relaxed about offering courses on his beloved Homer.

He could not bring himself to admire Virgil to the same extent, though he served the Virgil Society loyally for many years, and became its president.

Willcock realised early in his career that the traditional teaching of classics was under threat, and that radical measures were called for. At Lancaster he pioneered novel classics programmes that admitted beginners in Greek and Latin language, and he supported and developed UCL’s similarly accessible Ancient World Studies degree. At UCL he encouraged the student production, in translation, of Plautus’s Casina in 1980 — and what became the successful UCL Bloomsbury annual classical play was born.

He was a founder member of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers and influential in launching its Greek language-learning programme. He was academic consultant to the publisher Aris & Phillips, developing its innovatory series of texts (now published by Oxbow) with translation and an accompanying commentary that can be used by readers of the translation as well as of the original text.

The freshness and alertness that he brought to scholarship and university life generally were not least due to his ability to relax in large houses filled with lively people, in the company of his wife Sheena and their four daughters. He played golf and squash and was a formidable bridge player.

Professor Malcolm Willcock, classicist, was born on October 1, 1925. He died on May 2, 2006, aged 80.