Gordon Glover Explained

Claud Gordon Glover (7 June 1908 – 1 March 1975) was a British writer, particularly for radio, as well as some novels.

Early life

Glover was born in Edinburgh in 1908, the son of William Gordon Glover (1879-1945), an engineer,[1] and his wife Florence Edith (née Hardie) (1878-1956). His grandfather, Thomas Craigie Glover, was an Indian railway contractor.[2] An aunt, Ann Liston Glover, married Lt-Gen Sir Frederick McCracken.

Career

Glover was a BBC radio producer and presenter.[3] One of his last radio broadcasts was an episode of The Countryside in Summer, broadcast in 1974.[4]

He wrote articles for The Country Gentleman magazine under the pen name of Julian Grey.[3] He wrote short stories and articles for various publications, including the Australian Woman's Mirror, Lilliput,[5] [6] the Radio Times,[7] and the Wireless Weekly.

His first two novels were published by Geoffrey Bles, a London publisher with a reputation for spotting new talent. His son, Julian, described him as a "drunken journalist … hopeless with women".[8]

Works

Personal life

Glover married the journalist and radio presenter Honor Wyatt (1910–98) in 1931[15] at St Peter's Church, Cranley Gardens.[16] Before the Spanish Civil War, they lived in Spain for a while, where they befriended the poet Robert Graves and his lover Laura Riding.[17] They had two children, Prue and the actor Julian. They separated in 1939; Glover then had a brief relationship with Honor's friend, the future novelist Barbara Pym, in 1942 which he broke off abruptly and which traumatised Pym.[7] It prompted Pym to join the Wrens[18] and, when Glover died in 1975, she burnt her diary for 1942.[19]

He married, secondly, in 1946 the children's author Modwena Margaret Sedgwick (1916–96),[20] [21] who had previously been married to John Allen, at the time an actor but subsequently a noted theatre administrator.[22]

He died in 1975, aged 66.[23]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Grace's Guide: William Gordon Glover. 19 September 2021.
  2. Web site: Grace's Guide: Thomas Craigie Glover. 19 September 2021.
  3. Web site: National Portrait Gallery: Gordon Glover. 19 September 2021.
  4. Web site: BBC Programme Index: The Countryside in Summer. 2 August 1974 . 19 September 2021.
  5. Lilliput, Vol 24, No 6, Issue no 144, June 1949.
  6. Lilliput, Vol 28, No 3, Issue no 165, March 1951.
  7. Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 335.
  8. Roisman Cooper, Barbara, "Julian Glover CBE" in Great Britons of Stage and Screen: In Conversation, (2015: Rowman & Littlefield), p 149.
  9. Web site: British Library: Cocktails at Six. 19 September 2021.
  10. Web site: British Library: Week-End in Town. 19 September 2021.
  11. Web site: British Library: Bolero. 19 September 2021.
  12. Web site: British Library: Family Gathering. 19 September 2021.
  13. Web site: British Library: Parish pump. 19 September 2021.
  14. Web site: British Library: Tom Forrest's country calendar. 19 September 2021.
  15. Kensington District Registry, September 1931 quarter, Vol 1a page 428.
  16. Web site: Church of England Marriages and Banns, via Ancestry. 19 September 2021.
  17. Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 322.
  18. Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 343.
  19. Byrne, Paula, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, (2021: William Collins), p 563.
  20. Marylebone District Registry, March 1946 quarter, Vol 1a page 1186.
  21. Web site: North Walsham District Registry deaths via Find My Past. 19 September 2021.
  22. News: The Guardian: "Obituary – John Allen", 8 January 2002. . 8 January 2002 . 19 September 2021. Roberts . Peter .
  23. Web site: National Probate Calendar via Ancestry. 19 September 2021.

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