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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
- Cocktails at Six, (1934: Geoffrey Bles)[11]
- Week-End in Town, (1934: Geoffrey Bles)[12]
- Bolero. A novel, (1936: Cassell & Co)[13]
- Family Gathering. A novel, (1937: Cassell & Co)[14]
- Parish pump (by C. Gordon Glover as Julian Grey), (1975: Roundtree Press)[15]
- Tom Forrest's country calendar (compiled by Charles Lefeaux from the original material written for The Archers by C. Gordon Glover and Phil Drabble), (1978: BBC)[16]
Personal life[edit]
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[edit]
- ^ "Grace's Guide: William Gordon Glover". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "Grace's Guide: Thomas Craigie Glover". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ a b "National Portrait Gallery: Gordon Glover". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "BBC Programme Index: The Countryside in Summer". 2 August 1974. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "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
- ^ Lilliput, Vol 24, No 6, Issue no 144, June 1949.
- ^ Lilliput, Vol 28, No 3, Issue no 165, March 1951.
- ^ a b Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 335.
- ^ 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
- ^ Roisman Cooper, Barbara, "Julian Glover CBE" in Great Britons of Stage and Screen: In Conversation, (2015: Rowman & Littlefield), p 149.
- ^ "British Library: Cocktails at Six". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "British Library: Week-End in Town". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "British Library: Bolero". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "British Library: Family Gathering". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "British Library: Parish pump". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "British Library: Tom Forrest's country calendar". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ Kensington District Registry, September 1931 quarter, Vol 1a page 428.
- ^ "Church of England Marriages and Banns, via Ancestry". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 322.
- ^ Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 343.
- ^ Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 563.
- ^ Marylebone District Registry, March 1946 quarter, Vol 1a page 1186.
- ^ "North Walsham District Registry deaths via Find My Past". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ Roberts, Peter (8 January 2002). "The Guardian: "Obituary – John Allen", 8 January 2002". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ "National Probate Calendar via Ancestry". Retrieved 19 September 2021.
