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Born | 15 January 1940 |
Died | 27 March 1982 42) | (aged
Notable works | Jack's Return Home Jack Carter's Law |
Ted Lewis (15 January 1940 – 27 March 1982) [1] was a British writer known for his crime fiction.
Alfred Edward Lewis was born in Stretford, Manchester and was an only child. In 1946, the family moved to Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire. As a child, Lewis contracted rheumatic fever and spent almost a year away from school in bed rest. During that time he read books and comics and drew constantly. From a young age he was a fan of film, particularly Western epics, B-movies and gangster pictures. [2] He had a strict upbringing and his parents did not want their son to go to art school, but his English teacher Henry Treece, recognising his creative talents in writing and art, persuaded them not to stand in his way. Lewis attended Hull Art School [3] for four years.
Lewis moved to London in 1961 with £70 he earned from his first illustration commission, the Alan Delgado children's book, The Hot Water Bottle Mystery. [2] His first work in London was in advertising, and then as an animation specialist in television and films (among them the Beatles' Yellow Submarine ). [4] His first novel, All the Way Home and All the Night Through , was published in 1965, followed by Jack's Return Home , which created the noir school of British crime writing and pushed Lewis into the best-seller list. The novel was later retitled Get Carter after the success of the film of the same name, based on the novel and starring Michael Caine. After the collapse of his marriage Lewis returned to his home town. [5]
Lewis wrote several episodes for the television series Z-Cars . [6] Producer Graham Williams of Doctor Who , who had worked with Lewis on Z-Cars, commissioned a script entitled The Doppelgangers in 1978 from Lewis. However, the script was rejected early the next year, and was never put into production. [7]
Lewis's final book, assessed as his best by some critics, was GBH, published in 1980, the title referring to grievous bodily harm in British law. [8] [9] [10] Lewis died in 1982 aged 42 of alcohol-related causes. [11]
In October 2017 Nick Triplow published a detailed biography Getting Carter: Ted Lewis and the Birth of Brit Noir. [12]
In 2020 The Ted Lewis Centre opened in Barton upon Humber celebrating his life and works. [13]
Sir Michael Caine is an English retired actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over a career that spanned eight decades and is considered a British film icon. He has received numerous awards including two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. As of 2017, the films in which Caine has appeared have grossed over $7.8 billion worldwide. Caine is one of only five male actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in five different decades. In 2000, he received a BAFTA Fellowship and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank and North Lincolnshire on the south bank. Although the Humber is an estuary from the point at which it is formed, many maps show it as the River Humber.
Get Carter is a 1971 British gangster film, written and directed by Mike Hodges in his directorial debut and starring Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, John Osborne, Britt Ekland and Bryan Mosley. Based on Ted Lewis's 1970 novel Jack's Return Home, the film follows the eponymous Jack Carter (Caine), a London gangster who returns to his hometown in North East England to learn about his brother's death. Suspecting foul play, and with vengeance on his mind, he investigates and interrogates, regaining a feel for the city and its hardened-criminal element.
Barton-upon-Humber or Barton is a town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 11,066. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. It is 6 miles (10 km) south-west of Kingston upon Hull and 31 miles (50 km) north north-east of the county town of Lincoln. Other nearby towns include Scunthorpe to the south-west and Grimsby to the south-east.
GBH are an English punk rock band which was formed in 1978 by vocalist Colin Abrahall, guitarist Colin "Jock" Blyth, bassist Sean McCarthy and drummer Andy "Wilf" Williams.
Mablethorpe is a seaside town in the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. In 1961 the civil parish had a population of 3,611. On 1 April 1974 the parish was changed to form "Mablethorpe and Sutton". The population including nearby Sutton-on-Sea was 12,531 at the 2011 census and estimated at 12,633 in 2019.
GBH may refer to:
Get Carter is a 2000 American action thriller film directed by Stephen Kay, written by David McKenna, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Rachael Leigh Cook, Alan Cumming, Mickey Rourke, John C. McGinley, Rhona Mitra, and Michael Caine. Based on the Ted Lewis' novel Jack's Return Home, the film is a remake of the 1971 film of the same name, in which a younger Caine played the title role.
Blood and Wine is a 1996 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Bob Rafelson and starring Jack Nicholson, Stephen Dorff, Jennifer Lopez, Judy Davis, and Michael Caine. The screenplay was written by Nick Villiers and Alison Cross. Rafelson has stated that the film forms the final part of his unofficial trilogy with Nicholson, with whom he made Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens in the 1970s.
Michael Tommy Hodges was a British screenwriter, film and television director, playwright and novelist. His films as writer/director include Get Carter (1971), Pulp (1972), The Terminal Man (1974) and Black Rainbow (1989). He co-wrote and was the original director on Damien: Omen II. As director, his films include Flash Gordon (1980) and Croupier (1998).
Jack's Return Home is a 1970 novel by British writer Ted Lewis. It was adapted into the 1971 film Get Carter, starring Michael Caine as Jack Carter. The novel portrays a subsection of society living on the borderline between crime and respectability. The book was a major influence on the noir school of English crime fiction.
Stephen Marcus is a British actor, best known for his role as Nick the Greek in the British gangster classic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).
Born to Be Bad is a 1950 American film noir melodrama directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan and Zachary Scott. It features Fontaine as a manipulative young woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. It is based on the bestselling novel All Kneeling by Anne Parrish (1928).
Get Carter is a 1971 British film starring Michael Caine.
The murder of Sophie Lancaster occurred in England in August 2007. The victim and her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, were attacked by a group of teenage boys while walking through Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Rossendale, Lancashire, on 11 August 2007. As a result of the severe head injuries Lancaster sustained in the attack, she went into a coma from which she never regained consciousness, and died of her injuries thirteen days later. The police said the attack may have been linked to the couple wearing gothic fashion and being members of the goth subculture.
Hit Man is a 1972 American crime film directed by George Armitage and starring Bernie Casey, Pam Grier and Lisa Moore. It is a blaxploitation-themed adaptation of Ted Lewis' 1970 novel Jack's Return Home, more famously adapted as Get Carter (1971), with the action relocated from England to the United States.
Jack Carter's Law is a 1974 British crime novel written by Ted Lewis. It is a prequel to Lewis' best known work, Jack's Return Home (1970) which was adapted into the film Get Carter in 1971. On Christmas Eve, Jack Carter learns that a supergrass is about to inform to the police and put him and his associates away for lengthy prison sentences. Carter attempts to hunt down the informer, but it proves a far more dangerous task than he anticipates.
Outlaws is an American Western television series about lawmen pursuing criminals on the American frontier starring Barton MacLane, Don Collier, Jock Gaynor, Wynn Pearce, Bruce Yarnell, Slim Pickens, and Judy Lewis. The show aired on NBC during the 1960–61 and 1961–62 television seasons.
The Dark Remains is a Scottish crime novel of the tartan noir genre set in Glasgow. Part-written by William McIlvanney who left a half-finished handwritten draft when he died in 2015, the novel was completed by Ian Rankin and published in 2021. See Canongate website, with interview with Ian Rankin:
Harry Martineau is a fictional British police detective created by Maurice Procter. He is a Chief Inspector in the industrial Northern city of Granchester, which was inspired by Manchester. Procter, himself a former police officer, wrote fourteen novels in the series published between 1954 and 1968. Martineau has been described as a transitional figure in detective fiction standing between the Golden Age detectives such as Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyn and Josephine Tey's Inspector Grant and the newer fashion for police procedurals.