Roland Wales - From Journeys End to the Dam Busters

From Journeys End to The Dam Busters

To Joan, of course, and at last.

The Life of R.C. Sherriff, Playwright of the Trenches

Roland Wales

First published in Great Britain in 2016 by

Pen & Sword Military

an imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street

Barnsley

South Yorkshire

S70 2AS

Copyright Roland Wales 2016

ISBN 978 1 47386 069 8

eISBN 978 1 47386 071 1

Mobi ISBN 978 1 47386 070 4

The right of Roland Wales to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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T his book began with the Sherriff Nights at Kingston Grammar School, and so my thanks must begin with Jackie Steinitz, who signed up to the entire idea from the start, and was my partner in crime throughout: without her (and especially her outstanding musical talents), none of the Nights would have taken place, and this book would not have been written. Rowing master Phil Simmons was also a great supporter of the Sherriff Nights, as was Richard Smalman-Smith, who also doubled as an uncanny Sherriff lookalike. Above all, I have to express my gratitude to the many KGS rowers and parents who participated in the events so wholeheartedly over the years, and who made the Sherriff Club the best parent support organisation on our stretch of the Thames.

I must also express my thanks to so many staff at the school who tolerated the (slightly raucous) Sherriff Nights, indulged my slightly obsessive interest in Sherriff, and then ensured that the school would partner with the Surrey History Centre in the Heritage Lottery Fund project, which resulted in Sherriff s papers being catalogued, collated and archived. Most important, as far as the HLF project was concerned, were Head, Sarah Fletcher; School Archivist, Marianne Bradnock and Bursar, Edward Lang. Since they moved on, I have been extremely fortunate to have had the complete co-operation and assistance of Heads Mark Wallace and Stephen Lehec, archivist Joanne Halford, and the new bursar, Jane Smith. I should also like to thank Nick Bond, who has been a firm supporter of the project throughout, as well as contributing greatly to the writing of my play about Sherriff, and directing it, or extracts from it, on several occasions.

A great deal of the information in this biography comes from Sherriff s papers at the Surrey History Centre, where I have been lucky enough to receive a great deal of support and friendship. Above all, I would like to express my sincerest appreciation to Mike Page and Di Stiff, who have encouraged me with Sherriff since the very earliest days, and who steered the HLF project through its many phases: they have made me feel incredibly welcome at the Surrey History Centre, and have afforded me assistance and co-operation well in excess of what I had any right to expect. I feel that they treat me like a colleague instead of a customer, for which I am immensely grateful. I should also like to thank Janet Nixon, who was an invaluable source of help and support in the early days, and Zoe Karens, who was the archivist recruited to organise the Sherriff papers, and who gave me the benefits of her extensive knowledge. Zoe was assisted in her endeavours, particularly in the organisation of Sherriff s press cuttings, by a number of volunteers, but especially Linda and Barry Oliver, without whom this book would have been much the poorer. More generally I want to thank all of the staff at the SHC, who are unfailingly helpful and polite, even in the face of my persistent and unreasonable demands. Here I have particularly in mind the Document Assistants Teresa Gray, Guz Gonzalez, Martin Starnes and Joanna Murtagh who are charged with locating vast tracts of Sherriff papers whenever I visit, and who do so with great efficiency, and even greater tolerance and good humour.

While researching the book I have had the good fortune to have enjoyed support and assistance from many archives, both in the UK and the US. I was greatly aided by the staff at the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills (and especially by Kristine Krueger, to whom I am very grateful); by Brett Service in the Warner Brothers Archives at the USC School of Cinematic Arts; and by the staff in the Special Collections Section of the Library at UCLA. I would also like to thank the staff at the Special Collections Library of the University of Michigan, and especially Juli McLoone and Kate Hutchens, for the photos and correspondence they so generously provided from the Maurice Browne archives.

In the UK, I would first like to thank KGS, The Scouts and Curtis Brown for permission to quote from Sherriff s published and unpublished works. I would also like to acknowledge, with gratitude, the support and assistance of Gillian Butler at the Kingston Borough Archive, Simon Donaghue at the Havering Local Studies Centre, Jennifer Thorp at New College, Oxford, and archivists from many other organisations, including the Imperial War Museum, the Lambeth Palace Library, the Devon Records Office, the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick, the V&A Theatre and Performance Archive, the Senate House Library at the University of London, the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, the British Library, the John Rylands Library at the University of Manchester, and the Reuben Library of the British Film Institute.

I am grateful to these organisations and others, including Studio Canal Films Ltd, the David Lewis Estate and the New York Public Library for permission to publish various pictures. I am also grateful to the Society of Authors for permission to publish extracts from the letters of G.B. Stern and George Bernard Shaw, to the beneficiaries of the literary estate of James Hilton and Curtis Brown for permission to quote from his letters, and to the Cazalet, Dearmer and Booth families. Every effort has been made to contact other copyright holders where relevant, and I would be grateful for the names of additional copyright holders who may have been inadvertently omitted, that we may correct the record.

In preparing the draft of the book I took advantage of the good nature of many friends and colleagues who read through early (and much longer) drafts of various chapters of the book. As well as those mentioned above, I benefited greatly from the comments of Loretta Howells and David Cottis, and, especially, Howard Seabrook and Michael Lucas. The standard disclaimer is hardly necessary, but I am happy to acknowledge that remaining errors are definitely all mine. I would also like to thank Lorettas colleagues, Sam Thompson and Pete Allen, at the R.C. Sherriff Trust, who have shared their knowledge and contacts with me in the very friendliest fashion. I am also very happy to record my appreciation to Olive Pettit, Chris Manning-Press, Michael Dixon and Anne Hutton for taking the time to share their memories of Sherriff, and their papers, with me, and for providing an insight that cannot be gleaned from dusty papers. I was fortunate, as well, to benefit from the recollection of a number of Old Kingstonians who had been lucky enough to meet Sherriff, or be coached by him, over the years, and in that regard I would particularly like to thank Robin Blooie and Fred Dickenson. I am also grateful to Marilyn Smith for sharing her knowledge of Selsey, and for her generously offered skills as a tour guide.