Ben Travers AFC

Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)

The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...

 CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (12 November 1886, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 – 18 December 1980) in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

) was a British playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

 best remembered for his farce

Farce

In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...

s.

Born in the London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 borough of Hendon

Hendon

Hendon is a London suburb situated northwest of Charing Cross.-History:Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday , but the name, 'Hendun' meaning 'at the highest hill', is earlier...

, Travers was educated at Charterhouse

Charterhouse School

Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...

, where today there is a theatre named for him. After a brief sojourn in business, he served in the Royal Flying Corps

Royal Flying Corps

The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...

 and the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He also rejoined the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 in 1939 as a Squadron Leader, being employed at the Air Ministry

Air Ministry

The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...

 and in Washington.

Travers' first play The Dippers was produced in 1922 by Sir Charles Hawtrey. It was followed by his celebrated series of farces staged at the Aldwych Theatre

Aldwych Theatre

The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

, and a number of well-received serious plays. Travers also wrote five novels, two autobiographies and a book of cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 reminiscences. In 1970 the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 produced the farces Rookery Nook

Rookery Nook (1970 film)

Rookery Nook is a 1970 British comedy television film starring Richard Briers, Arthur Lowe and Irene Handl. It is based on the play Rookery Nook, one of the Aldwych Farces, by Ben Travers. It was first aired on the BBC on 19 September 1970.-Cast:...

, A Cuckoo In The Nest, Turkey Time, A Cup Of Kindness, Plunder, Dirty Work and She Follows Me About for television. At the age of 83, Travers rewrote the plays to concentrate on plot twists and verbal misunderstandings, rather than the slapstick

Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...

 and split-second timing that typified the stage versions.

In his ninetieth year he wrote a comeback work for the stage, the comedy The Bed Before Yesterday, which was successfully produced by Lindsay Anderson

Lindsay Anderson

Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...

 in the West End in December 1975 for the Lyric Theatre Company, starring Joan Plowright

Joan Plowright

Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...

 and Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...

. On Travers' 90th birthday, when asked in a radio interview whether he did not feel that at 90 he was a bit old to be writing sex romps, he replied quick-as-a-flash "Ah but you see, I have an awfully good memory".

In January 1976 Michael Blakemore

Michael Blakemore

Michael Howell Blakemore OBE is an Australian actor, writer and theatre director. In 2000 he became the only individual to win Tony Awards for best Director of a Play and Musical in the same year for Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate....

 revived Plunder at the Royal National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

 and at the Evening Standard Awards

Evening Standard Awards

The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...

, held at the Savoy Hotel on 4 February, Travers was presented with the 1975 Special Award for his Services to the Theatre, and received the CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 in the Queen's Birthday Honours

Queen's Birthday Honours

The Queen's Birthday Honours is a part of the British honours system, being a civic occasion on the celebration of the Queen's Official Birthday in which new members of most Commonwealth Realms honours are named. The awards are presented by the reigning monarch or head of state, currently Queen...

.

He served as prime warden of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers

Worshipful Company of Fishmongers

The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers is one of the 108 Livery Companies of the City of London, being a guild of the sellers of fish and seafood in the City...

.

The Plays

• 1922 The Dippers
• 1924 The Three Graces (an adaptation)
• 1925 A Cuckoo in the Nest (adapted from his 1922 novel)
• 1926 Rookery Nook
  Rookery Nook (play)
  Rookery Nook is a 1926 British comedic play written by Ben Travers. It was based by Travers on his own 1923 novel Rookery Nook, about a series of confusions over an unoccupied house. It was first performed at the Aldwych Theatre in London, and became one of the Aldwych Farces.-Adaptations:In 1930 a...
  
  (adapted from his 1923 novel)
• 1927 Thark
• 1928 Plunder
• 1928 Mischief
• 1929 A Cup of Kindness
• 1930 A Night Like This
• 1931 Turkey Time
• 1932 Dirty Work
• 1933 A Bit of a Test
• 1936 Chastity, My Brother
• 1936 O Mistress Mine
• 1938 Banana Ridge
• 1939 Spotted Dick
• 1943 She Follows Me About
• 1947 Outrageous Fortune
• 1952 Wild Horses
• 1975 The Bed Before Yesterday
• 1980 After You With the Milk