Gordon Glover

Claud Gordon Glover (7 June 1908 – 1 March 1975) was a British writer, particularly for radio, as well as some novels.

Early life

Glover was born in Edinburgh in 1908, the son of William Gordon Glover (1879-1945), an engineer,[1] and his wife Florence Edith (née Hardie) (1878-1956). His grandfather, Thomas Craigie Glover, was an Indian railway contractor.[2] An aunt, Ann Liston Glover, married Lt-Gen Sir Frederick McCracken.

Career

Glover was a BBC radio producer and presenter.[3] One of his last radio broadcasts was an episode of The Countryside in Summer, broadcast in 1974.[4]

He wrote articles for The Country Gentleman magazine under the pen name of Julian Grey.[3] He wrote short stories and articles for various publications, including the Australian Woman's Mirror,[5] Lilliput,[6][7] the Radio Times,[8] and the Wireless Weekly.[9]

His first two novels were published by Geoffrey Bles, a London publisher with a reputation for spotting new talent. His son, Julian, described him as a "drunken journalist … hopeless with women".[10]

Works

Personal life

Glover married the journalist and radio presenter Honor Wyatt (1910–98) in 1931[17] at St Peter's Church, Cranley Gardens.[18] Before the Spanish Civil War, they lived in Spain for a while, where they befriended the poet Robert Graves and his lover Laura Riding.[19] They had two children, Prue and the actor Julian. They separated in 1939; Glover then had a brief relationship with Honor's friend, the future novelist Barbara Pym, in 1942 which he broke off abruptly and which traumatised Pym.[8] It prompted Pym to join the Wrens[20] and, when Glover died in 1975, she burnt her diary for 1942.[21]

He married, secondly, in 1946 the children's author Modwena Margaret Sedgwick (1916–96),[22][23] who had previously been married to John Allen, at the time an actor but subsequently a noted theatre administrator.[24]

He died in 1975, aged 66.[25]

References

  1. ^ "Grace's Guide: William Gordon Glover". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  2. ^ "Grace's Guide: Thomas Craigie Glover". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b "National Portrait Gallery: Gordon Glover". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  4. ^ "BBC Programme Index: The Countryside in Summer". 2 August 1974. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  5. ^ "volumes : illustrations ; 27 cm.", The Australian Woman's Mirror, vol. 13, Sydney: The Bulletin Newspaper, 27 July 1937, nla.obj-502768909, retrieved 20 September 2021 – via Trove
  6. ^ Lilliput, Vol 24, No 6, Issue no 144, June 1949.
  7. ^ Lilliput, Vol 28, No 3, Issue no 165, March 1951.
  8. ^ a b Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 335.
  9. ^ Australasian Radio Relay League. (6 September 1941), "v. ; 24-38 cm.", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, vol. 36, Sydney: Wireless Press, nla.obj-716953639, retrieved 20 September 2021 – via Trove
  10. ^ Roisman Cooper, Barbara, "Julian Glover CBE" in Great Britons of Stage and Screen: In Conversation, (2015: Rowman & Littlefield), p 149.
  11. ^ "British Library: Cocktails at Six". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  12. ^ "British Library: Week-End in Town". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  13. ^ "British Library: Bolero". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  14. ^ "British Library: Family Gathering". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  15. ^ "British Library: Parish pump". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  16. ^ "British Library: Tom Forrest's country calendar". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  17. ^ Kensington District Registry, September 1931 quarter, Vol 1a page 428.
  18. ^ "Church of England Marriages and Banns, via Ancestry". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  19. ^ Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 322.
  20. ^ Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 343.
  21. ^ Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 563.
  22. ^ Marylebone District Registry, March 1946 quarter, Vol 1a page 1186.
  23. ^ "North Walsham District Registry deaths via Find My Past". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  24. ^ Roberts, Peter (8 January 2002). "The Guardian: "Obituary – John Allen", 8 January 2002". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  25. ^ "National Probate Calendar via Ancestry". Retrieved 19 September 2021.