John Creasey (17 September 1908 – 9 June 1973) was an English author known mostly for detective and crime novels but who also wrote science fiction, romance and westerns. He wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms.
He created several ongoing characters, such as The Toff (The Honourable Richard Rollison), Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard (starting with Gideon's Day in 1955), Inspector Roger West, The Baron (John Mannering), Doctor Emmanuel Cellini, and Doctor Stanislaus Alexander Palfrey. Gideon of Scotland Yard was the basis for the John Ford movie Gideon's Day (1958) and for the television series Gideon's Way (1964–66). The Baron character was made into a TV series starring Steve Forrest as The Baron (1966–67).
Life and career
John Creasey was born in Southfields, London Borough of Wandsworth (formerly part of 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 Fulham 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, about a gang of criminals, was published in January 1932 by Melrose. 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.
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, The Honourable Richard Rollison, is an aristocrat and an amateur sleuth. ("Toff" is a British slang expression for an aristocrat.)
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 34-book series was Traitor's Doom, published in 1942 by John Long Ltd., 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 honour, the Grand Master Award. He served one term as president of the organization in 1966, one of only three non-American writers to be so honoured.
Creasey had as many publishers as he had pseudonyms, but enjoyed enduring relations with John Long and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. After he finally broke into the American market in the 1950s, many of his books were released by Harper and Scribners; Walker reissued many older titles in revised editions.
During the 1940s, Creasey was living at "Cattistock", Fernlea Avenue, Ferndown, Wimborne in Dorset.Handwritten letter by John Creasey, 28 April 1941 He died at his home New Hall, which is now New Hall Hospital, Bodenham near Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1973.Biography, Fantastic Fiction
In March 2007, his family sold all of Creasey's copyrights to Fleming Literary Management.
Adaptations Several adaptations were made of Creasey's novels. On film these included: 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 & Mouse (1958, also known as The Desperate Men in the USA), written as Michael Halliday. On television, a series based on the Commander George Gideon character, Gideon's Way, was produced from 1964 to 1965 by ITC Entertainment and starring John Gregson in the title rôle. ITC followed this with a version of Creasey's The Baron character (1965–66), starring Steve Forrest. 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. The Toff was also portrayed on Australian and BBC radio.
BBC Radio Adaptations +Story TitleEpisode NameBroadcast DateBroadcast StationBattle For Inspector WestHoneymoon spells Nightmare04.05.1967BBC Light ProgrammeTerror for a Bride11.05.1967Shadow on a Millionaire18.05.1967Bait for a Bogey25.05.1967Trail from a Tip-off01.06.1967Explosion in Red08.06.1967Master-mind at Midnight15.06.1967Inspector West At HomeThe Voice of Doom25.03.1968BBC Radio 2Crisis for a Copper28.03.1968Fear in Flat Nine01.04.1968A Call from the Whistler04.04.1968A Girl for a Hostage08.04.1968Clue from a Captive11.04.1968A Date with Justice15.04.1968Inspector West At BayFlashpoint in Fleet Street27.05.1969Bombshell in Bournemouth29.05.1969Encounter with an Eve03.06.1969Conflict in Kensington05.06.1969Package for Peril10.06.1969Shadow of Darkness12.06.1969Bullets in Bell Street17.06.1969Finale for a Vendetta19.06.1969A Beauty for Inspector WestDeath Calls for a Queen13.07.1970BBC Radio 4Killer - With a Question Mark20.07.1970Heat Seven - Hammersmith27.07.1970Beauty Beware!03.08.1970Murder, Sweet Murder10.08.1970Fire in the Night17.08.1970Murder Wears a Veil24.08.1970Inspector West Cries WolfThe Mark of the Wolf31.08.1970Knife In the Dark07.09.1970Murder at Morden Lodge14.09.1970Captive at Cannon Row21.09.1970Hunt the Wolf28.09.1970The Face of Lobo05.10.1970Inspector West Makes HasteOld Coppers Never Die28.08.1971Murder Steps In04.09.1971A Clue from the Past11.09.1971Appointment by Night18.09.1971Someone Missing25.09.1971The Race is Run02.10.1971
Crime Writers' Association (CWA)
In 1953, John Creasey founded the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) in the UK. The CWA New Blood Dagger is awarded in his memory, for first books by previously unpublished writers; sponsored by BBC Audiobooks, it includes a prize of £1000. This award was known previously as the John Creasey Memorial Dagger.
Pseudonyms
His pseudonyms include:
Gordon Ashe Henry St. John Cooper Credo Norman Deane Robert Caine Frazer Patrick Gill Michael Halliday Charles Hogarth (with Ian Bowen) Brian Hope Colin Hughes Kyle Hunt Abel Mann Peter Manton J.J. Marric James Marsden Richard Martin Rodney Mattheson Anthony Morton Henry St. John Martin Richard Jeremy York
In addition, he wrote Westerns under the names of Ken Ranger, Tex Riley, William K. Reilly, and Jimmy Wilde. He also wrote Romantic novels under the names of Margaret Cooke, M.E. Cooke, and Elise Fecamps.
Political career
Creasey was a longtime committed Liberal party member though he later became an independent."Man of Mystery", Ian Millsted, Journal of Liberal History, Issue 57, Winter 2007–08 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.
The platform of the All Party Alliance was based on running industry by councils made up of workers, managers, investors and government to avoid industrial action, with a mind to eventually eliminate income tax.
Creasey fought by-elections as an independent in support of this idea around 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.
In 1972 he relaunched the All Party Alliance as Evolution to Democracy (Evo). Evo merged with Colin Campion's "The Organisation", a Yorkshire-based party which advocated coalition governments based on the proportion of votes cast for each party, to form the "Independent Democratic Alliance", which soon faded after Creasey's death, and its poor performance in the February 1974 general election.F. W. S. Craig, Minor Parties at British Parliamentary Elections
John Creasey features in the Look At Life film I Protest! where he is seen collecting signatures for a petition to lobby the government to take action against the number of deaths due to road accidents.
Honours Creasey 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.
Museum The Young Gallery in Salisbury holds a collection of books, personal effects, and objects relating to John Creasey as part of its collection. This was previously known as the John Creasey Museum, but now comes under the Young & Creasey Gallery Trust.
Published works
+ code series titles GG The Commander George Gideon series 28 Z5 Dr. Palfrey (Z5) series 39 DZ The Department Z series 28 RW Chief Inspector Roger West series 68 TT The Toff series 80 SB Sexton Blake series 4 Ba The Baron series 62 BM The Bruce Murdoch series 6 Li The Liberator series 3 MK The Mark Kilby series 8 SF The Superintendent Folly series 12 FB The Fane Brothers series 8 DC The Doctor Cellini series 22 PD The Patrick Dawlish Series 54
Genres: RO for romance, WE for westerns, MY for mystery, na for no idea. Reprint, sometimes under another name.