Edmund Barclay

Edmund Barclay (1898–1961) was an English-Australian writer best known for his work in radio drama. Radio historian Richard Lane called him "Australian radio's first great writer and, many would say, Australian radio's greatest playwright ever."^[1] He also wrote stage plays and film scripts including The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934).

He was born in India to English parents, and was educated in England, where he worked as a journalist. He arrived in Australia in 1926 and wrote short stories, newspaper serials, articles and verse before moving into radio in the early 1930s. Among his most popular works were Khyber, a tale of the British Empire on the North West Frontier, and As Ye Sow, a story of the European settlement of Australia. He wrote less in the 1940s and 1950s, partly due to ill health brought on by heavy drinking.^[2]

Selected credits

• The Three Musketeers (1934) - radio version of the famous story
• Return of the Three Musketeers (1934) - radio play
• An Antarctic Epic : The Story of Captain Scott's Tragic Journey to the South Pole (1934) - radio play
• The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934) - co-screenplay
• The Cedar Tree (1935) - book
• Lawrence of Arabia (1935) - radio play
• Khyber (1935) - radio play - starred James Raglan
• A Cavalcade of Australian History (1935) - radio play
• Khyber and Beyond (1936) - radio play, sequel to Khyber
• Khyber (1936) - novel, based on his 1935 radio play
• Shanghai (1936) - radio play
• Dead or Alive (1936) - radio play
• Lovers and Luggers (1937) - co-screenplay
• Shanghai (1937) - novel, based on his radio play
• Murder in the Silo (1937) - radio play
• Neath Southern Skies(1938) - radio play
• As Ye Sow : An Australian Saga (1937-38) - radio play
• Into the Light (1938) - radio play
• The Girl with the Tattered Glove (1938) - radio play
• Singapore Spy (1939) - radio play
• Valley of the Sky (1939) - radio play
• Madame Curie (1939) - radio play - starred Peter Finch
• With Wings as Eagles (1943) - radio play - he wrote with Joy Hollyer, with whom he formed a romantic relationship
• The Bolero Murder (1940s) - radio play
• The Man Who Liked Eclairs (1940s) - radio play
• The Fortunes of Richard Mahony (1950) radio play, adapting the novel

References

External links

• Edmund Barclay at IMDB
• Edmund Barclay at Australian Dictionary of Biography
• Edmund Barclay at Trove
• Edmund Barclay Australian theatre credits at Ausstage
• Edmund Barclay at Austlit (subscription required)
• Edmund Barclay papers at State Library of New South Wales