De-la-Noy was born in
Hessle,
Yorkshire, and grew up in
London. He was educated at
Bedford School, although he ran away at the age of 13 though this did not prevent him from accepting a commission to write the school's official history in 1999. He worked as a reporter for two local papers, the
Bedfordshire Times and the
Brighton and Hove Herald, before joining the employ of Anglican clergyman
Timothy Beaumont. It was after this job that he went to work for Archbishop
Michael Ramsey, for whom De-la-Noy became press secretary in 1967. De-la-Noy's many books included biographies of
Denton Welch (
Denton Welch: The Making of a Writer, 1984),
Edward Elgar (
Elgar: The Man, 1984),
the Queen Mother (
The Queen Behind the Throne, 1994),
Edward Sackville-West (
Eddy: The Life of Edward Sackville-West, 1988), and the Archbishop of Canterbury (
Michael Ramsey: A Portrait, 1990), and other works such as
The Honours System (1985) and
Acting as Friends: The Story of the Samaritans (1987). De-la-Noy died of cancer at the age of 68; he was survived by his partner of 30 years Bruce Hodson. ==Selected bibliography==