Lionel Hale Explained

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Death Date:	1 January 1977

Lionel Ramsay Hale (26 October 1909  - 1 January 1977) was an English critic, broadcaster and playwright.

Life

Hale was born in Beckenham, Kent.

In the 1940s, Hale presented the radio quiz Transatlantic Quiz^[1] and an early television quiz show called Quiz with Hale. He made regular appearances on Panorama between 1953 and 1955 as a theatre critic,^[2] and was featured as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 3 January 1958.^[3] One of Hale's plays, These Two, ran for a short time (eight days) on Broadway in May, 1934. These Two was a three-act drama set in a flat in London.^[4] He was also a frequent contributor to Punch, the British humour magazine.

His wife, Betty Taylor, died in 1952. Their son was the publisher and literary agent James Hale (1946-2003).^[5] Lionel subsequently married Crystal Pudney, the daughter of A. P. Herbert.

Bibliography

Fiction

• A Fleece of Lambs. London: Jonathan Cape, 1961 (novel)

Plays

• She Passed Through Lorraine: A comedy in three acts (1932)
• These Two: A play in three acts^[6]
• The Mocking Bird: An extravagance in three acts (1933)
• Festival Time: A comedy in three acts (1938)
• Gilt and Gingerbread: A comedy in three acts (1960)

Nonfiction

• The Old Vic 1949-50 (1950)
• Evans Plays: Evans catalogue of acting editions: With synopses (editor)(1956)

Notes and References

1. News: 'Transatlantic Quiz' - Light Programme - 5 August 1945 - BBC Genome. 3 August 1945. Radio Times. 7. 14 November 2014.
2. https://books.google.com/books?id=JUzIAgAAQBAJ&q=lionel+hale&pg=PA1718 Encyclopedia of Television
3. Web site: Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Lionel Hale . . BBC . 25 July 2014.
4. Internet Broadway database
5. Web site: James Hale - Telegraph. 25 August 2003. The Daily Telegraph. 26 July 2014.
6. Book: Catalog of Copyright Entries. 118. These Two Lionel Hale.. 1933. U.S. Government Printing Office. en.