Edward Max Nicholson – known to friends as Max – was born in 1904, and died a few months short of his 99th birthday in 2003. In 1930, he had already published the first of his many, many books on birds, although he was also one of the four founders of the World Wildlife Fund; the main influence on the founding of what came to be known as the Policy Studies Institute; was private secretary to Herbert Morrison from 1945 to 1951; was chairman of the Festival of Britain committee (this last role would have brought him back into close contact with Gerald Barry).
His obituary in The Independent is here, and a selection of obituaries and other accounts of him are here. There is also, on the same website, a selection of photos of him here.
New Statesman Competitions and New Statesman satirical poems: a history 