Gordon Beckles Explained

Gordon Dudley Beckles Willson (9 April 1902, Paddington, London – 4 August 1954, London) was a British journalist who wrote under the name Gordon Beckles.[1]

Family background

Gordon Dudley Beckles Willson was the eldest son of Henry Beckles Willson (1869–1942) (known as Beckles Willson), who married Ethel Grace Dudley (1873–1920) in Ontario 1899. They had two other children, Clare (1906–1981) and Robert (1908–1972). They all followed in their father's footsteps and took up journalism. Beckles Willson and his wife moved from Canada to Talbot Road Paddington in London in 1890s describing himself as a journalist and author. For a while during 1911 the family lived at Quebec House in Westerham, Kent, once the childhood home of James Wolfe.

He served in the First World War as an (acting) Major attached to the HQ staff and invalided out in 1916. He became a prolific author, mainly of historical and political works. Grace died in Westerham in 1920 and Beckles died in Beaulieu-sur-mer, France in September 1942.

Gordon Beckles married Patricia Donnelly in 1927, they lived at 7 Gower Street WC1. The same year he became assistance editor of the Sunday Dispatch, and a colour portrait by Lewis Baumer of Patricia appeared in Tatler magazine in the November.[2] They had three children Anthony (known as Tony) born in 1928, and Twins Jennifer (known as Patsy) and Janet in 1932. Their mother Patricia died in the autumn of 1934. In 1939 Gordon re-married a french divorcee Hélène Juliette Nelly Freer-Ash (nee Planckaert) in Westminster.

He lived in London, variously in Gower Street, Holborn, Portman Mansions, Baker Street and finally Chesterfield House, Mayfair.[3] His daughters Janet and Jennifer became one pair of the "Toni Twins" who advertised hair products in the 1950s.[4] Janet led a socialite lifestyle, and counted among her friends politicians, and actors such as Nigel Davenport. In 1954 she married a businessman, William Ingram, who died in the 1970s. She retired to the Wiltshire village of Marlborough and died in 2011.[5] The other twin Patsy married John Alliott in 1957. They lived in London before moving to Berkshire. His son Tony married Robina Elizabeth Ballard in 1954 who became a successful novelist, publishing under her married name books such as Leopards on the Loire (1961) and A Reflection of Rachel (1967). She was also a prolific children's author. They lived in Twickenham.

Gordon collapsed on his way home and died in St Mary's Hospital, London in Paddington in 1954 aged 52, and his second wife, Helene, died in March 1959 at the Churchill Clinic London.

Journalistic career

He wrote under the name Gordon Beckles, a journalist with the Daily Express and at 25 became an assistant editor of the Sunday Dispatch.

He was a columnist with the Daily Herald, a left-wing, British daily that sold up to two million copies a day at its peak, later became The Sun. He became deputy editor of the Daily Mail, in 1928 travelled to the US on their behalf. He penned a serial story "Hollywood-on-Thames" for the Daily Herald in the early 1930s. He acted as art editor, authored many books. He was occasional contributor to the Illustrated London News.

During the war he collaborated on a film with J. Lee Thompson.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, he wrote for The Sphere and Leader Magazine, a weekly pictorial magazine published by the Hulton Press, until it closed in 1950. He also wrote for Lilliput and had regular columns for Tatler magazine under the titles: "Some Portraits in Print" and "Talk of the Town" covering society gossip and the Royal Family.[6]

Published books

Selected articles

Film work

Beckles collaborated with J. Lee Thompson and Lesley Storm on the screenplay of East of Piccadilly (1941) a mystery film (1h 15m) starring Judy Campbell and Sebastian Shaw, based on his original story.[16]

Synopsis: Pennie Sutton (Judy Campbell), a crime reporter, and Tamsie Green (Sabastian Shaw), pulp writer, are first on the scene of one in a series of murders. Together they set out to unravel the mystery.[17] The story may have been influenced by his writings 'Hollywood on Thames' in the early 1930s.

Sources

External links

Family image. Gordon Beckles father, Henry Beckles Willson National Portrait Gallery collection Beckles Willson - National Portrait Gallery

Notes and References

  1. BMD records
  2. Tatler magazine, 23 November 1927, p. 3.
  3. BMD and Census records
  4. Web site: The Advertising Archives | Magazine Advert | Toni Perms Twins | 1950s. Advertisingarchives.co.uk.
  5. Web site: Janet Ingram. The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald.
  6. Web site: Results for 'gordon%20beckles' . British Newspaper Archive.
  7. BERLIN reference 385
  8. Hutchings, Lost in Translation? Early Soviet Sound Film Abroad
  9. Web site: Empress of Britain. Eresources.nlb.gov.sg.
  10. Web site: Addolf Hitler. 15 March 1933. 4. Trove.
  11. Steiner, p. 22, ref. 9
  12. Doctor, p. 479, (ref. 488)
  13. Media History or Media Histories?. Siân. Nicholas. 1 August 2012. Media History. 18. 3–4. 379–394. 10.1080/13688804.2012.727289. 146513095.
  14. Web site: Leslie Illingworth of the Daily Mail and Punch. Politicalcartoon.co.uk.
  15. Web site: PARLIAMENT 1918-2009. Onlinelibrary.wiley.com. 6 July 2022.
  16. Web site: The Strangler. 3 April 1942. IMDb.com.
  17. Web site: East of Piccadilly 1941 . . 2019-07-31 . 2020-05-11.
  18. Web site: Search results. Parliament Archives.
  19. Web site: Home | Search the archive | British Newspaper Archive. British Newspaper Archive. 6 July 2022.

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