John Creasey

John Creasey MBE (17 September 1908 – 9 June 1973) was an English crime and science fiction writer. The author of more than 600 novels, he published them using 28 different pseudonyms, including Anthony Morton, Michael Halliday, Kyle Hunt, J.J. Marric, Jeremy York, Richard Martin, Peter Manton, Norman Deane, Gordon Ashe, Henry St. John Cooper, Credo, Robert Caine Frazer, James Marsden, Colin Hughes, Martin Richard, Rodney Mattheson, Brian Hope, Abel Mann and others, including Westerns under the names of Tex Riley, William K. Reilly, Jimmy Wilde and Ken Ranger, and Romantic novels by the names of Margaret Cooke, M.E. Cooke, and Elise Fecamps.

He created several characters which are now famous, such as The Toff, Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, Inspector Roger West, The Baron, and Doctor Stanislaus Alexander Palfrey. The most popular of these was Gideon of Scotland Yard, who was the basis for the television series Gideon's Way and for the John Ford movie Gideon of Scotland Yard (1958), also known by its British title Gideon's Day. The Baron character was made into a 1960s TV series starring Steve Forrest as The Baron.

Contents

Life and career

John Creasey was born in Southfields, Surrey, to a working-class family. He was the seventh of nine children of Ruth and Joseph Creasey, a poor coach maker. Creasey was educated at Fulhan Elementary School and Sloane School, both in London. From 1923 to 1935 he worked various clerical, factory, and sales jobs while trying to establish himself as a writer. After a number of rejections, Creasey's first book was published in 1930. His first crime novel, Seven Times Seven, was published in January, 1932 by Melrose. It was a story about a gang of criminals. In 1935 he became a full-time writer. In 1937 alone, twenty-nine of his books were published. A phenomenally fast writer, he once suggested that he could be shut up in a glass-box and write there a whole book.

The Gideon's Way television series was produced from 1964 to 1966 in the UK, based on the Commander George Gideon character. From 1965 to 1966 a television version of Creasey's The Baron character was produced, starring Steve Forrest as The Baron. Between 1967 and 1971 the BBC produced a radio version of Creasey's Roger West stories with actor Patrick Allen in the title role as Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Roger "Handsome" West, with Allen's real-life wife Sarah Lawson playing the role of West's wife Janet.

In 1938, he created the character The Toff with the first novel Introducing the Toff. The Toff series would continue for 59 novels from 1938 to 1978. The Toff was The Honourable Richard Rollison, who was born a "toff", a courtesy title given to the eldest sons of Viscounts and Barons. He is an aristocrat and an amateur sleuth and detective.

During World War II, he created the character of Dr. Stanislaus Alexander Palfrey, a British secret service agent, who forms Z5, a secret underground group that owes its allegiance to the Allies. The first novel of the Dr. Palfrey series, consisting of 34 titles, was Traitor's Doom, published in 1942 by John Long, while the last was The Whirlwind in 1979.

In 1962, Creasey won an Edgar Award for Best Novel, from the Mystery Writers of America (MWA), for Gideon's Fire, written under the pseudonym J. J. Marric. In 1969 he received the MWA's greatest honor, the Grand Master Award.

Several movies have been made based on John Creasey novels: Salute the Toff (1952, also known as Brighthaven Express in the USA), Hammer the Toff (1952), John Ford's Gideon's Day (1958, also known as Gideon of Scotland Yard in the USA), released by Columbia Pictures, and Cat and Mouse (1958, also known as The Desperate Men in the USA), written as Michael Halliday.

He died at Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1973.

In 2007, his family transferred all of Creasey's copyrights and other legal rights to Owatonna Media. Owatonna Media on-sold these copyrights to Coolabi Plc in 2009, but retained a master licence in radio and audio rights. These rights are commercially licensed in the UK and abroad.

John's son Richard is a distinguished television producer, having served both in the private sector and at the BBC, and as the British producer of Patrick Watson's worldwide Canadian television documentary series The Struggle for Democracy

Political career

As well as being an author, Creasey was a committed Liberal party member though he later became an independent.[1] He said that he had been organising Liberal street-corner meetings from the age of 12. At the time of the 1945 general election Creasey was Chairman of the local Liberal Association in Bournemouth where his publicity and writing skills were instrumental in helping the Liberals to an atypical second place. He was adopted as prospective parliamentary candidate for Bournemouth West in 1946 and appeared on the platform at the 1947 Liberal Assembly, which was held in Bournemouth.

He fought Bournemouth West in the 1950 general election, coming third. He became increasingly unhappy with the party through the 1950s though and disagreed so much with the party's policy concerning the Suez Crisis he resigned his membership. However after the Orpington by-election success of 1962 and impressed with Jo Grimond's leadership of the party he seemed to be reviving his Liberal activity. By January 1966 however, he had founded the All Party Alliance, a pressure group which sought to unite the best people from all parties.

Creasey fought by-elections as an independent in support of this idea in 1967 at Nuneaton, Brierley Hill and Manchester Gorton. He also fought Oldham West during the by-election of June 1968. He did well for an independent with the first-past-the-post system, having limited resources and often little time to campaign.

In Oldham West he beat his old party's candidate into fourth place. He could not seem to shed his affection for the Liberal party however, congratulating Birmingham Ladywood by-election victor Wallace Lawler in July 1969 and attending the 1969 party assembly albeit to promote All Party Alliance aims.

Crime Writers' Association (CWA)

In 1953, John Creasey founded the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) in the UK. The CWA New Blood Dagger was awarded in memory of CWA founder John Creasey, this dagger for first books by previously unpublished writers is sponsored by BBC Audiobooks and includes a prize of £1000. This award was known previously as the John Creasey Memorial Dagger.

Honours

He was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services in the United Kingdom's National Savings Movement during World War II.

Bibliography

This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

The Gideon series by J. J. Marric (1955-1976)

Dr. Palfrey series (1942-1979)

  1. Traitor's Doom (November, 1942, John Long)
  2. The Valley of Fear (May, 1943, John Long) aka The Perilous Country (1949 Long, 1966 Arrow, 1967 Long, 1973 Walker in U.S. re-releases)
  3. The Legion of the Lost (November, 1943. John Long)
  4. Dangerous Quest (1944)
  5. Death in the Rising Sun (1945)
  6. The Hounds of Vengeance (1945)
  7. Shadow of Doom (1946)
  8. The House of the Bears (1946)
  9. Dark Harvest (1947)
  10. The Wings of Peace (1948)
  11. The Sons of Satan (1948)
  12. The Dawn of Darkness (1949)
  13. The League of Light (1949)
  14. The Man Who Shook the World (1950)
  15. The Prophet of Fire (1951)
  16. The Children of Hate (1952) aka The Killers of Innocence
  17. The Touch of Death (1954)
  18. The Mists of Fear (1955)
  19. The Flood (1956)
  20. The Plague of Silence (1958)
  21. The Drought (1959) aka Dry Spell
  22. The Terror (1962)
  23. The Depths (1963)
  24. The Sleep (1964)
  25. The Inferno (1965)
  26. The Famine (1967)
  27. The Blight (1968)
  28. The Oasis (1969)
  29. The Smog (1970)
  30. The Unbegotten (1971)
  31. The Insulators (1972)
  32. The Voiceless Ones (1973)
  33. The Thunder-Maker (1976)
  34. The Whirlwind (1979)

The Toff series, by John Creasey (1938-1978)

  1. Introducing the Toff (1938)
  2. The Toff Goes On (1939)
  3. The Toff Steps Out (1939)
  4. Here Comes the Toff (1940)
  5. The Toff Breaks In (1940)
  6. Salute the Toff (1941)
  7. The Toff Proceeds (1941)
  8. The Toff Goes to Market (1942)
  9. The Toff Is Back (1942)
  10. The Toff Among Millions (1943)
  11. Accuse the Toff (1943)
  12. The Toff and the Curate (1944) aka The Toff and the Deadly Parson
  13. The Toff and the Great Illusion (1944)
  14. Feathers for the Toff (1945)
  15. The Toff and the Lady (1946)
  16. The Toff on Ice (1946) aka Poison for The Toff
  17. Hammer the Toff (1947)
  18. The Toff in Town (1947)
  19. The Toff Takes Shares (1948)
  20. The Toff and Old Harry (1949)
  21. The Toff on Board (1949)
  22. Fool the Toff (1950)
  23. Kill the Toff (1950)
  24. A Knife for the Toff (1951)
  25. The Toff Goes Gay (1951) aka A Mask for the Toff
  26. Hunt the Toff (1952)
  27. Call the Toff (1953)
  28. The Toff Down Under (1953) aka Break the Toff
  29. Murder Out of the Past (1953)
  30. The Toff at Butlin's (1954)
  31. The Toff at the Fair (1954) aka Last Laugh For The Toff
  32. A Six for the Toff (1955) aka A Score for the Toff
  33. The Toff and the Deep Blue Sea (1955)
  34. Make-Up for the Toff (1956) aka Kiss the Toff
  35. The Toff in New York (1956)
  36. Model for the Toff (1957)
  37. The Toff on Fire (1957)
  38. The Toff and the Stolen Tresses (1958)
  39. The Toff on the Farm (1958) aka Terror for the Toff
  40. Double for the Toff (1959)
  41. The Toff and the Runaway Bride (1959)
  42. A Rocket for the Toff (1960)
  43. The Toff and the Kidnapped Child (1960) aka The Kidnapped Child
  44. Follow the Toff (1961)
  45. The Toff and the Teds (1961) aka The Toff and the Toughs
  46. A Doll for the Toff (1959)
  47. Leave It to the Toff (1962)
  48. The Toff and the Spider (1965)
  49. The Toff in Wax (1966)
  50. A Bundle for the Toff (1967)
  51. Stars for the Toff (1968)
  52. The Toff and the Golden Boy (1969)
  53. The Toff and the Fallen Angels (1970)
  54. Vote for the Toff (1971)
  55. The Toff and the Trip-Trip-Triplets (1972)
  56. The Toff and the Terrified Taxman (1973)
  57. The Toff and the Sleepy Cowboy (1974)
  58. The Toff and the Crooked Copper (1977)
  59. The Toff and the Dead Man's Finger (1978)

The Baron Series by Anthony Morton (1937-1979)

John Creasey Books Published by John Long

(This is a partial list which consists of titles that were published by John Long Ltd., a UK publisher).

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Man of Mystery", Ian Millsted, Journal of Liberal History, Issue 57, Winter 2007-08
  2. ^ Bibliographic detail taken from a copy of this book first published by Long (UK) in 1941

External links