Bernard Newman (author)

Bernard Charles Newman
Born Bernard Charles Newman
(1897-05-08)8 May 1897
Ibstock, Leicestershire, England, UK
Died 19 February 1968(1968-02-19) (aged 70)
Pen name Bernard Newman,
Don Betteridge
Occupation novelist
Language English
Nationality British
Period 1930-1968
Genre mystery, children's
Spouse Marjorie Edith Donald (1912-19??);
Helen Johnston (1966-1968)
Children 3
Relatives George Eliot (great aunt)

Bernard Charles Newman (8 May 1897 – 19 February 1968) was a British author of over 100 books, both fiction and non-fiction. An historian, he was considered an authority on spies, but also wrote travel books and on politics. His fiction included mystery novels, science fiction and children's books.

He was a great-nephew of the 19th-century author George Eliot, and the father of the romance writer Margaret Potter, who was married to writer Jeremy Potter.

Biography

Personal life

Bernard Charles Newman was born on 5 May 1897 in Ibstock, Leicestershire, England, UK, one of six children of Annie (Garner) and William Betteridge Newman, a cattle dealer and farmer. He was a great nephew of the 19th century author George Eliot.[1]

On 23 August 1923 he married Marjorie Edith Donald, a former teacher, they had three daughters Margaret Edith, Hilary, and Lauriston. On 20 July 1966, he married second with Helen Johnston.[2]

Career and works

Serving in the trenches during World War I, and with reasonable fluency in French, his regiment's French liaison officer occasionally used him to go undercover in Paris. Accompanied by a female French agent, they investigated loose talk by Allied soldiers about troop movements. It was here that his interest in espionage began, and his character 'Papa Pontivy' was based on the French liaison officer.

He ended the war as a Staff Sergeant, although in a lecture in 1942 he was introduced as a Captain.[3] Afterwards, having lost his appetite for further education, he took a modest post as a Civil Servant with the Ministry of Works. He began writing and he became a lecturer and passionate traveller, visiting over sixty countries during the Interbellum, many of those on bike. He gave some 2,000 lectures between 1928 and 1940 throughout Europe, meeting even Adolf Hitler.[3] He started writing novels, gaining some recognition with his 1930 novel The Cavalry Went Through.

From 1936 to 1938, he was the first chairman of the Society of Civil & Public Service Writers.[4]

At the start of the Second World War, Newman was in France, witnessing the invasion by the Germans. For the next five years, he became a staff lecturer at the Ministry of Information and wrote patriotic British novels like Siegfried Spy and Death to the Fifth Column. The novel Secret Weapon featured Winston Churchill.[5] In 1942, he was sent to Canada and the United States to lecture there on the British and the war. In Washington, he encountered President Roosevelt and lectured for senators and other high officials. He also was a guest in national and local radio broadcasts throughout the country. Returning to the United Kingdom in late 1942, he reversed his role and lectured throughout the country about America.[5]

Bernard Newman was also considered an authority on spies,[6] and wrote Epics of Espionage and the novel Spy.[7] His 1945 novel Spy Catchers was praised as one of the best books ever on counter-espionage.[8]

His science fiction novel The Blue Ants has been described by professor Paul Brian in his study Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction as an "absurd classic of Sinophobia"[9] and "perhaps the earliest example of a fictional Russo-Chinese nuclear war"[10] Boucher and McComas praised Flying Saucer as "good fun", but dismissed its politics as "hardly realistic."[11]

Bernard Newman was a Chevalier in the Légion d'honneur.

Allegations of Espionage During World War I

Some of his early fictional novels, particularly Spy were written in the first person, with himself as the lead character. This has led to allegations that he was a spy. It should be noted that Newman lied about his age to enlist at 17 years old, and makes it clear in his 1960 autobiography, Speaking From Memory that his war service was routine and unremarkable, and that his novels were publicised in this way to achieve sales, at the suggestion of his publisher, Gollancz. Correspondence between Newman and the military historian B. H. Liddell Hart held in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King's College London, confirm Victor Gollancz's marketing tactics by asking Newman to 'disappear' for two weeks during the book launch.

On its publication, Spy attracted considerable attention in the press. Newman had written the novel in such a way that it appeared to be autobiographical, although there were several 'facts' that could easily be checked up on. Relishing the free publicity, (Spy ran to 12 editions) Newman eventually said in an interview

I am not a spy, I have never been a spy and I don't suppose I shall ever become one. I have never met the King, the Kaiser, Ludendorff, Hindenberg or Lloyd George. I did not win the DSO nor was I as much as half an inch behind the German lines during the war. I am trying to devise a new kind of thriller. I believe I have succeeded. I quite agree that there are plenty of people who might believe it, but I believe the intelligent reader will treat the book exactly as he would a good detective story

This statement was widely reported in the press worldwide. But the seeds of conspiracy had been sown. Even his 1968 New York Times obituary repeated the fiction. To this day, internet articles can be found stating his 'espionage activities' as fact.

Other allegations of espionage activity relate to his extensive travels in Europe between the wars, including reports that he was the agent who first reported Hitler's V-1 rockets. It is highly probable that Newman reported back to the British government after his travels. But again, these allegations may stem from the fictional novels written by Newman at the same time.

Selected bibliography

References and sources

  1. ↑ Current Biography Year Book: 1959, H W Wilson, 1960
  2. ↑ Who was who in American history, arts and letters, Volumen 3, Marquis Who's Who, 1975, p. 604
  3. 1 2 3 Introduction to a 1942 Lecture
  4. ↑ History of the Society of Civil & Public Service Writers
  5. 1 2 Robert Alder, in Beware the British: The Role of Writers in British Propaganda, page 85 (2004)
  6. ↑ Russell Lewis in Margaret Thatcher: A Personal and Political Biography, page 12 (1975)
  7. ↑ Edward John Russell in Science and Modern Life page 86 (1971)
  8. ↑ Wesley Britton in Beyond Bond: Spies in Fiction and Film page 35 (2005)
  9. ↑ Nuclear Holocausts chapter 1
  10. ↑ Nuclear Holocausts chapter 2
  11. ↑ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, Summer 1950, p.106
  12. ↑ The Hindu on The Rupa Book of Great Crime Stories (14 February 2004)

External links

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