En el n.º 571 de Al-Ahram Weekly Online (enero-febrero 2002) aparece publicada una interesante semblanza de Denys Johnson-Davies, traductor del árabe al inglés especializado en la narrativa egipcia.

[...] Some may regard Johnson-Davies as one of the last in a generation of Orientalists, yet his pedigree is not easily traceable to that scholarly tradition. His interests were not purely academic: he acquired his knowledge of the language through direct interaction with native speakers and, whether in literature or in life, he was eager to find out what was happening then and there: "I really learnt Arabic at the BBC Arabic Service, where I started working in 1940. It had started in 1938 and they were looking for anyone who knew Arabic to work there. So many Arabs who were living in England at the time worked there, including many Egyptians." Having got the job, he decided to live in the boarding house where Arab expatriates, mainly Egyptians, congregated. And it was there that he befriended Arabic Service employees, learning to speak and finding out about Arabic literature. "It is my five and a half years at the BBC," he testifies, "that really taught me Arabic."

[...] "I suppose I was something of a novelty in those days; an Orientalist who actually spoke Arabic," he laughs.