R. F. Delderfield | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Ronald Frederick Delderfield (1912-02-12)12 February 1912 New Cross, London, England |
| Died | 24 June 1972(1972-06-24) (aged 60) Sidmouth, England |
| Occupation | Novelist, dramatist |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction, theatre |
| Years active | 1947–1972 |
Ronald Frederick Delderfield (12 February 1912 – 24 June 1972) was an English novelist and dramatist, some of whose works have been adapted for television and film.
Ronald Frederick Delderfield was born at 37 Waller Road,New Cross,[1] London, in 1912 to Alice and William James Delderfield (c. 1873–1956). His father worked for a meat wholesaler inSmithfield Market, and was the firstLiberal to be elected to Bermondsey Council. William supportedwomen's suffrage and the Boer cause in theBoer War. He was a firm supporter of thetemperance movement, and ofDavid Lloyd George until the latter allied himself in government with the Conservative Party. From 1918 to 1923, the family lived at 22 Ashburton Avenue,Addiscombe, nearCroydon, Surrey.The Avenue novels were based on Ronald's life inAddiscombe andShirley Park.
Delderfield attended aninfant school in Bermondsey, then a "seedy and pretentious" small private school — "seventy boys and four underpaid ushers, presided over by a jovial gentleman who wore blue serge".[2]: 18 He then went to a council school, which he hated, but which provided him with the prototype for Mr. Short inThe Avenue. This experience was followed by agrammar school whose dedicated teachers inspired several of his characters. Once the family moved toDevon, Delderfield first attended a co-educational grammar school and, finally,West Buckland School. In his autobiographyFor My Own Amusement, Delderfield joked that West Buckland could be likened to schools inThe Spring Madness of Mr Sermon,The Avenue andA Horseman Riding By, and that it had earned its fees three times over.[2]: 22 Again, inFor My Own Amusement, Delderfield divided the nation into city and suburb dwellers, rural dwellers, and those who lived in coastal towns.
On a family holiday inSwanage when he was young, Delderfield caughtscarlet fever and had to spend three months in an isolation hospital.
In 1923, Delderfield's father and a neighbour in Bermondsey bought theExmouth Chronicle, a local newspaper inExmouth, and William became the editor. In 1929, Delderfield joined the staff of the paper and later succeeded his father as editor. InFor My Own Amusement, he describes his work—attending Magistrates' Courts and Council meetings, covering amateur dramatics and other events, visiting the bereaved to write local obituaries, even cycling after the fire engine to see if there was a story, as well as relying on a large number of local correspondents. His experiences during this period were clearly mirrored in the romantic novelDiana. In 1926 he had a house, 'Dove Cottage' (now 'Gazebo'), built onPeak Hill inSidmouth.
Delderfield's first publishedplay was produced atBirmingham Repertory Theatre in 1936; theBirmingham Post wrote "more please, Mr Delderfield".[2]: 250 One of his plays,Worm's Eye View, had a run at theWhitehall Theatre inLondon, and was filmed in 1951 withDiana Dors. Following service in theRAF duringWorld War II, he resumed his literary career, while also running an antiques business nearBudleigh Salterton, Devon. Having begun with drama, Delderfield decided to switch to writing novels in the 1950s. His first novel,Seven Men of Gascony, a tale of French soldiers in theNapoleonic Wars, was published in 1949 byWerner Laurie.[3] In 1950 he featured in aBBC Newsreel clip of the short-livedThe Axminster and Lyme Regis Clarion inLyme Regis.[4]
InFor My Own Amusement (1972), Delderfield discusses the inspiration for the storylines and tells in anecdotes the origin of several of his characters. He believed that authors draw inspiration from the scenes of their youth, pointing out thatCharles Dickens' characters nearly always used thestagecoach, when he was writing in the age of the train. Delderfield calls his sources "character farms", the main ones being his time in Addiscombe, schooldays, and his time at theExmouth Chronicle. OfThe Avenue andA Horseman Riding By he said, "I set out to tell a straightforward story of a group of undistinguished British people—the only kind of people I really know." Delderfield pointed out in this autobiography that he had been criticized for his very conventional views of women's social roles.
Delderfield died at his home, then called Dove Cottage, inSidmouth oflung cancer, and was survived by his widow, the former May Evans, whom he married in 1936. They had a son and a daughter.[5] A brother, Eric Delderfield (1909–1995) survived him and wrote several books on the history of England'sWest Country.[6]
Several of Delderfield's historical novels and series involve young men who return from war and take up careers in peacetime that allow the author to delve deeply into social history from the Edwardian era to the early 1960s.
Delderfield also published non-fiction books on Napoleonic history, historical novels involving theNapoleonic Wars, and some isolated novels set in more contemporary periods. Hisprose style tends to be straightforward and readable, lacking in any influence from post-modernist fiction, and his social attitudes are fairly traditional, though his politics, as expressed via his characters, are a mixture ofprogressive and free market. In general, Delderfield's novels celebrate English history, humanity, andliberalism while demonstrating little patience with entrenched class differences and snobbery yet also sometimes advocating individualism, self-reliance, and other traditional Victorian values.
Delderfield wroteThe Adventures of Ben Gunn (1956) which followsBen Gunn fromsexton's son to pirate and is narrated byJim Hawkins in Gunn's words. It describes the life of Ben Gunn from the events which led him to leave Devon, and eventually to his presence on Treasure Island and involvement in the story told by Stevenson, and follows up with a brief summary of Ben Gunn's life afterwards.
Delderfield's works include:
British TV has made five series based on Delderfield's books.Nigel Havers played Paul Craddock inBBC TV'sA Horseman Riding By (1978), adapted from the eponymous novel.[7]John Duttine played David Powlett-Jones inBBC TV'sTo Serve Them All My Days (1980), adapted by Andrew Davies[8] from the eponymous novel[9] and Archie Carver inLondon Weekend Television'sPeople Like Us (1977), adapted from the Avenue novels.[10]Diana was adapted in 1984 into a BBC miniseries starringJenny Seagrove in the title role andPatsy Kensit as her younger self.Come Home Charlie, and Face Them was adapted as a mini-series by London Weekend Television in 1990.[11]
The firstCarry On film,Carry On Sergeant (1958), was based on Delderfield's playThe Bull Boys. A 1961 filmOn the Fiddle starringSean Connery was based on Delderfield's novelStop at a Winner.[12] His playWorm's Eye View was filmed withDiana Dors under itsoriginal title.[13] The 1956 filmNow and Forever was based on his playThe Orchard Walls.[14]
