Nissel, Muriel 1921–

PERSONAL:

Born January 30, 1921, in London, England; daughter of Evan (a civil servant) and Bessie May Griffiths; married Siegmund Nissel (a violinist), April 5, 1957; children: Claire, Daniel. Education: Oxford University, B.A., 1942.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England.

CAREER:

Ministry of Fuel and Power, London, England, assistant principal, 1942-48; Central Statistical Office, London, statistician, 1948-53; British Treasury, London, statistician, 1953-58; Central Statistical Office, London, chief statistician, 1967-76; Centre for Studies in Social Policy, senior research fellow, 1977-85; Carnegie Inquiry into the Third Age, statistical consultant, 1990-93. Magistrate for Middlesex Area of Greater London, 1965-91.

WRITINGS:

(With others) The Welfare State: Diversity and Decentralisation, introduction by Sir Charles Carter, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1980.

Family Care of the Handicapped Elderly: Who Pays?, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1982.

(Editor) Facts about the Arts, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1983.

People Count: A History of the General Register, H.M. S.O. (London, England), 1987.

Married to the Amadeus: Life with a String Quartet, Giles de la Mare (London, England), 1998.

Founding editor, Social Trends, 1970-75.

SIDELIGHTS:

In 1957 Muriel Nissel married Siegmund "Sigi" Nissel, second violinist of the Amadeus Quartet. In Married to the Amadeus: Life with a String Quartet, she provides a history of the group, from its beginnings in London in 1948, through forty years of performances and recordings. Each of the members had a wife and family, and as the title reflects, they were married to the quartet, referred to as the "Wolf Gang." Times Literary Supplement reviewer Patrick Carnegy wrote that "the legacy of the Amadeus lives on in their recordings and in the many fine ensembles they have coached. … It is amazing how much of their reputation was won by the sheer quality of their performances, unaided by the marketing and image-making that is par for the course today." Carnegy said Nissel recorded everything "fairly and squarely…. The story of the invisible life of the Wolf Gang is never less than candidly and engagingly told."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Books, September, 1987, review of People Count: A History of the General Register, p. 25.

Times Educational Supplement, September 16, 1983, review of Facts about the Arts, p. 25; September 23, 1983, review of Facts about the Arts, p. 27.

Times Literary Supplement, October 30, 1998, Patrick Carnegy, review of Married to the Amadeus: Life with a String Quartet, p. 22.