FORMER Ashmolean Museum administrator Noelle Brown, who has died aged 91, found a new role in retirement as a film critic for the Oxford Mail.

Miss Brown spent most her working life in administration at the Beaumont Street museum – a job she loved and thrived on.

She was also a journalist, spending her younger years at a newspaper in Gloucestershire and then becoming a film critic for the Oxford Mail after she retired.

Elizabeth Noelle Lorraine Brown was born on December 30, 1923, the middle of three girls.

The family grew up in Neath, South Wales, before moving to Birmingham.

After leaving school Noelle worked as a journalist for the Stroud News and Journal newspaper in Gloucestershire.

During the Second World War she served in an administrative role in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, the Wrens, and later transferred to the Royal Air Force with postings to both France and Germany after the war.

She reached the rank of pilot officer.

Miss Brown never married, despite her sisters encouraging her to, and soon after her time in the RAF moved to Henley-on-Thames and secured an administrative position at the Ashmolean.

Miss Brown stayed with a friend in Oxford during the week and, enjoying the short commute to work, soon bought a house in Adelaide Street in Jericho.

She flourished in her role at the department of western art at the museum.

She loved the culture of her job and stayed there until she retired.

In retirement, Miss Brown continued to keep busy and dipped back into the world of journalism by becoming a film and theatre critic for the Oxford Mail.

She had a love of languages and spoke French, German and Italian.

She attended many functions and events at the Ashmolean, especially those related to the department of western art.

Friends said she truly loved her retirement years and made many friends, enjoying a good social life with them at restaurants.

Miss Brown also liked to travel and went to Rome several times.

She had a very close relationship with both her sisters, speaking to them frequently on the phone.

Miss Brown died on December 1 at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford after accidentally choking.

Her funeral took place last Thursday at Oxford Crematorium.