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Elizabeth Dilys Powell (20 July 1901 – 3 June 1995) was a British journalist, author and film...

Elizabeth Dilys Powell (20 July 1901 – 3 June 1995) was a British journalist, author and film critic. She was born into a middle class family in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Her mother was Mary Jane Lloyd; her father, Thomas Powell, a bank manager. She went to Talbot Heath School in Bournemouth and afterwards obtained a first class honours degree in modern languages at Somerville College, Oxford. While at Oxford she met an archaeologist, Humfry Payne, whom she was to marry in 1926. After graduation Powell spent a period as personal assistant to Ottoline Morrell before being appointed to the literary department of The Sunday Times in 1928. In 1929 her husband was appointed director of the British School of Archaeology at Athens and from 1931 until his death in 1936 (they had no children) Powell spent part of each year in Greece, frequently attending excavations where her husband was working. She continued these visits when she was able until the Second World War intervened. On her return to Britain Powell was appointed film critic on The Sunday Times, and in 1941 she found war work with a Greek connection in the Political Warfare Executive, which oversaw Britain's propaganda in occupied