Peter Tinniswood

Last updated • 10 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Peter Tinniswood (21 December 1936 – 9 January 2003) was an English radio and TV comedy scriptwriter, and author of a series of popular novels. He was born in Liverpool, but grew up above a dry cleaner's on Eastway in Sale, Cheshire.

Contents

Early career

Tinniswood attended Sale Boys' Grammar School. His career began in journalism. He spent four years in Sheffield from 1958, first working for The Star , and then for the Sheffield Telegraph , where he was a leader writer and specialised in feature writing. He won widespread admiration for a week-long series Travels with a Donkey, an account of a tramp round the Peak District with a reluctant donkey.

Television and radio

In 1964, Tinniswood collaborated with his long-term writing partner David Nobbs on the BBC sketch show The Frost Report [1] and the comedy Lance At Large, a sitcom starring Lance Percival in which Percival's character, Alan Day, was involved in different scenarios and meeting different people in each episode. The short-lived ITV series Never Say Die (1970) drew on Tinniswood's days as a hospital porter. Set in Victoria Memorial Hospital, the show derived much of its comedy from the interactions betweenvpatients and staff. It starred Reginald Marsh and Patrick Newell. Tinniswood based the BBC comedy I Didn't Know You Cared (1975–1979) on his novels. Featuring the Brandons, a dour northern family, the programme ran until 1979, and featured Liz Smith, Robin Bailey, John Comer and Stephen Rea. In 1980, the BBC produced a series based on other Tinniswood books, featuring the character the Brigadier, an erstwhile cricketer and latterly raconteur, played by Robin Bailey. Some of the stories were adapted for BBC Radio 4. The series was remade in 1985 for Channel 4.

For ITV in 1983, Tinniswood wrote The Home Front, again set in the north of England. It starred Brenda Bruce as Mrs Place, a nosey, arrogant mother who lorded it over her three children. Two years later ITV produced Mog , based on Tinniswood's 1970 novel and starring Enn Reitel as the title character. The episodes were written by Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement, but it was not a success. Also in 1985, was South Of The Border starring Brian Glover as Edgar Rowley, a Yorkshireman forced to migrate to the south of England.

In later years, Tinniswood's output was mostly for Radio 4 and included the continuing adventures of Uncle Mort and Carter Brandon in Uncle Mort's North Country, Uncle Mort's South Country and Uncle Mort's Celtic Fringe and a series about poacher Winston Hayballs, his "bit of fluff" Nancy and her family adapted from his novel "Winston". Liz Goulding, his second wife, played Rosie.

A lifelong pipe smoker, Peter Tinniswood died of throat cancer at the age of 66. Since his death, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain and the Society of Authors have jointly administered in his memory the annual Tinniswood Award, to honour the best original radio drama script broadcast in the UK during the previous year, with a prize of £3,000 for the winner.

TV credits

Novels and other fiction [2]

THE BRANDON FAMILY SERIES:

CRICKETING TALES AND SKETCHES: (A table of the individual pieces in these books is given at the foot of this section).

HAYBALLS AND ITS SEQUEL:

OTHERS:

The books listed above under the heading Cricketing Tales And Sketches contain short stories and other humorous pieces as shown here:

#Tales From A Long RoomMore Tales From A Long Room The Brigadier Down UnderThe Brigadier In SeasonTales From Witney ScrotumWitney Scrotum
1Root's BootWitney ScrotumThe ExplanationThe Start of the SeasonThe DedicationThe Commodore
2Our Own Dear QueenThe Boys of SummerThe LandfallStumped!The IntroductionMentioned in Dispatches
3The DitherersBatmanFirst ImpressionsA Day in the Life ofHitting the TruthSlakehouse
4'Blackstop'Five Non-CricketersA Day OutHarold SalisburyA Walk with Miss RoebuckHimmelweit Revisited
5What Do I Mean By?SibsonBefore The MatchA Glimpse into the FutureThe Third ManIn Dock
6The Lady WifeThe Royal WeddingFirst Dispatches From The FrontThe PartySouvenirsMitchell Dever
7The Groundsman's HorseHard TimesKingsley KunzelCarry on GoeringTour de ForceThe Trusty Old Lanchester
8Mendip-HughesThe MoleSecond Dispatches From The FrontThe Holy FatherFamous SonsSplit Runciman
9Cricketers' Cook BookApartheidThe Lady Wife Down Under"Looknow" HobsonAnother Bloody WifeAlternative Cricket
10Polar GamesBlofeld RevisitedA Visit To NauntonMiss Roebuck's Diaries: The Journals of a Cricketing SpinsterThe Half CenturyWhat-Ho, Vileness
11The Ones That Got AwayCricket AhoyThird Dispatches From The FrontThe Brigadier in SeasonThe Great DayBeryl
12I Was ThereThe ReturnStop PressThe Bird Tapes
13Incident at FromeWhen Winter Comes
14Farewell, My Lovelies
15The Perfect Day
16Cricketers' Quiz

Collected Tales From A Long Room - stories 1-13 are the same as 1-13 in Tales From A Long Room; stories 14-24 are the same as 1-11 in More Tales From A Long Room.

The Brigadier’s Brief Lives - contains the following short sketches:

  1. Miss Petula Clark
  2. Lord Carrington
  3. Mr Rupert Murdoch
  4. Mr Richard Baker
  5. Sir John Mills
  6. Mr Ray Buckton
  7. Mr E. W. Swanton
  8. Lord Wilson
  9. Mr Kevin Keegan
  10. Mr Norman St John Stevas
  11. Sir Douglas Bader
  12. Mr Roy Jenkins
  13. Sir Robin Day
  14. Miss Jan Leeming
  15. Prince Philip
  16. Mr Andrew Lloyd-Webber
  17. Lord Goodman
  18. Miss Jilly Cooper
  19. The Duke of Westminster
  20. Mr David Frost
  21. Mr Laurie McMenamy
  22. The Village Tea Lady
  23. Miss Esther Tantzen
  24. Andrew Previn
  25. Lord Lichfield
  26. Mr Geoffrey Boycott
  27. Mrs Mary Whitehouse
  28. Sir Richard Attenborough
  29. Mr Robert Robinson
  30. Mr Winston Churchill
  31. Lord Longford
  32. Mr Michael Parkinson
  33. Mr Terry Wogan
  34. Mr David Attenborough
  35. Mr Roy Plomley
  36. Mr Sebastian Coe
  37. Miss Pamela Stephenson
  38. Mr Arthur Scargill
  39. Mr Roy Hattersley
  40. Mr Ian Paisley
  41. Cardinal Hume
  42. Mr Ian Botham
  43. Mr Michael Foot
  44. Mr H. D. 'Dicky' Bird
  45. Mr Frank Muir
  46. Earl Spencer
  47. Mr Jimmy Hill
  48. Mr Leon Brittan
  49. Mr Jimmy Saville OBE
  50. Miss Elizabeth Jane Howard
  51. Mr Tony Benn
  52. Mr Tom Stoppard
  53. Mr Bob Willis
  54. Mr Barry Took
  55. Miss Britt Ekland
  56. Sir Peter Hall
  57. Sir Geoffrey Howe
  58. Mr James Cameron
  59. Lord Lucan
  60. Mr Ned Sherrin
  61. The Archbishop of Canterbury
  62. Princess Margaret
  63. Miss Jean Rook
  64. Mr Norman Tebbitt
  65. Mr Mick Jagger
  66. Mr Patrick Moore
  67. Doctor David Owen
  68. Mr Jimmy Young
  69. Sir Anthont Blunt
  70. Mr Clive Jenkins
  71. Mr Enoch Powell
  72. Lady Falklander
  73. Miss Jan Morris
  74. Mr Ludovic Kennedy
  75. Mr Brian Redhead
  76. Mr Brian Johnson
  77. Mr Reginald Bosanquet
  78. Mr Auberon Waugh
  79. Mr Bill Sowerbutts
  80. Mr Jim Laker
  81. Mr Jackie Stewart
  82. Lord Kagan
  83. Sir Harold Macmillan
  84. Mr John Wells
  85. Mrs Shirley Williams
  86. Mr Henry Cooper
  87. Mr John Lennon
  88. Mr Neil Kinnock
  89. Captain Mark Phillips
  90. Mr Winston Place
  91. Dame Vera Lynn
  92. Mr Feliks Topolski
  93. Mr Alan Ayckbourn
  94. Sir John Hackett

The Brigadier’s Tour - contains the following 116 short sketches:

The Introduction

The Captain: • Mr W. H. Wooller

The Vice-Captain: • Mr D. J. Insole

The Opening Batsmen: • Mr W. Place • Sir J. B. Hobbs • Mr J. B. Stollmeyer • Mr H. L. Collins • Mr W. Rhodes • Mr W. M. Lawry • Mr A. Jones • Mr S. M. Gavaskar • Mr A. R. Morris • Mr A. C. Maclaren • Mr F. A. Lowson • Mr Hanif Mohammed • Mr R. T. Simpson • Mr C. Milburn • Mr G. Boycott • Mr T. Meale

The Specialist Batsmen: • Mr F. R. Spofforth • Mr K. C. Bland • Mr E. de C. Weekes • Mr W. Watson • Mr C. B. Fry • Mr I. R. Redpath • Mr M. P. Donnelly • Mr C. H. Lloyd • Mr G. Gunn • Mr D. I. Gower • Sir D. G. Bradman • Mr G. R. Viswanath • Mr D. C. S. Compton • Mr A. D. Nourse • Nawab of Pataudi • Mr P. M. Roebuck • Mr V. T. Trumper • Mr I. V. A. Richards • Mr J. E. P. McMaster • Mr R. H. Spooner • Brigadier-General R. M. Poore • Mr D. W. Randall • Mr Z. Abbas • Mr K. D. Mackay • Mr G. L. Jessop • Charles Lawrence, Mullagh, Dick-A-Dick, Twopenny, Red Cap, Mosquito, King Cole, Peter, Cuzens, Tiger, Jim Crow, Bullocky, Dumas, Sundown • Mr D. B. Close • Mr R. L. Dias • Mr C. L. Walcott • Mr T. W. Hayward • Rt Rev D. S. Sheppard • Mr R. N. Harvey • Mr T. W. Graveney • Sir P. F. Warner • Mr A. R. Lewis • Mr A. R. Border • Mr H. Pilling

The All Rounders: • Mr W. G. Grace • Mr R. G. Garlick • Mr R. Benaud • Mr G. H. Hirst • Lord Constantine, Baron of Maraval and Nelson • Mr M. A. Noble • Mr R. M. Kapil Dev • Sir G. St. A. Sobers • Mr P. M. Walker • Mr M. J. Procter • Mr A. E. Trott • Mr F. E. Woolley • Sir F. M. M. Worrell • Mr W. R. Hammond • Mr I. T. Botham

The Fast Bowlers: • Mr J. B. Statham • Mr J. Barton King • Mr H. Larwood • Mr D. K. Lillee • Mr Fazal Mahmood • Mr R. V. Divecha • Mr W. Voce • Mr R. R. Lindwall • Mr W. J. O'Reilly • Mr R. G. D. Willis • Mr E. A. McDonald • Mr M. W. Tate • Mr T. Richardson • Mr I. J. Jones • Mr J. M. Gregory • Mr R. J. Hadlee • Mr F. E. Rumsey • Sir C. A. Smith

The Spinners: • Mr D. J. Shepherd • Mr C. V. Grimmett • Mr R. Peel • Mr P. H. Edmonds • Mr B. S. Bedi • Mr R. Tattersall • Mr J. E. Emburey • Mr H. J. Tayfield • Mr S. Ramadhin • Mr J. C. White • Mr D. V. P. Wright • Mr J. Briggs • Mr J. C. Laker • Mr L. R. Gibbs • Mr C. H. Parkin • Mr H. Verity • Mr Abdul Qadir • Mr C. Blythe

The Greatest Bowler Of Them All: • Mr S. F. Barnes

The Wicket Keepers: • Mr D. Tallon • Mr R. W. Marsh • Mr F. M. Engineer • Mr R. W. Taylor • Mr J. R. Reid • Mr J. G. Binks • Mr W. H. V. Levett

The Replacements: • The Replacements.

Radio credits

Radio drama

(snt = BBC Saturday-Night Theatre; aft = BBC Afternoon Theatre, m = monologue)

Serials

(numbers show no. of episodes) [4] [ unreliable source? ]

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References

  1. Obituary for Peter Tinniswood, The Independent, 11 January 2003.
  2. MBA Literary Agents Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Royal Society of Literature". Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  4. Sutton Elms Radio Drama resource