George Bazeley Scurfield was an English author, poet, and politician. He was born on 19 March 1920 in Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and died on 15 December 1991 in Norwich

Norwich

Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

, England. He married Cecilia Hopkinson in 1947 at Cambridge, England. They had five children, including their son the actor, Matthew Scurfield

Matthew Scurfield

Matthew Scurfield is an actor and the eldest child of the late author George Scurfield and his wife Cecilia in Cambridge, England....

, and daughters; Sarah, Lucy, Poly and Sophy.

World War II

During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, George Scurfield served as an officer with the Royal Artillery

Royal Artillery

The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...

 in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. He was awarded the Military Cross

Military Cross

The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....

 for his wartime services in the Far East

Far East

The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

. This military decoration

Military decoration

A military decoration is a decoration given to military personnel or units for heroism in battle or distinguished service. They are designed to be worn on military uniform....

 is awarded to officers of the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 in recognition of an act or acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy.

Politics

In the 1960s Scurfield entered municipal politics. He twice ran in Cambridge City Council, England

Cambridge City Council, England

Cambridge City Council is a district council in the county of Cambridgeshire, based in the city of Cambridge.-Activities:The council provides various facilities and services within the city...

 elections as a Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 candidate. First in Market Ward, in May 1962 when he came in 3rd, losing to the Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 candidate, Peter Calvert. In May 1963 Scurfield was elected to City Council in Petersfield, where he served through 1965. In September 1967 Scurfield again ran for City Council in Cambridge, placing second to the Conservative candidate, David Lane.

Author

George Scurfield, with his wife Cecilia, wrote two charming and useful works on home baking. These books have become cook book classics, and both remain in print to this day. The first, Home Baked, about the process of hand baking

Baking

Baking is the technique of prolonged cooking of food by dry heat acting by convection, and not by radiation, normally in an oven, but also in hot ashes, or on hot stones. It is primarily used for the preparation of bread, cakes, pastries and pies, tarts, quiches, cookies and crackers. Such items...

 bread, was originally published in 1956. The companion volume, Home-Made Cakes and Biscuits, first published in 1975, is equally engaging and practical.

Published poems

• Poets of Tomorrow, Second Selection (containing five poems by George Scurfield), published by Cambridge Poetry (Hogarth Press
  Hogarth Press
  The Hogarth Press was founded in 1917 by Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf. It was named after their house in Richmond, in which they began hand-printing books....
  
  , 1940).
• The Song of a Red Turtle, a book of poems published by Timbimuttu (London, 1941), 19 pages.
• “Brother If You Could See Me Now”, Seven Magazine of People’s Writing (April - June, 1944)
• “The Colonel”, Seven Magazine of People’s Writing (July - September, 1944)
• “Evening”, Seven Magazine of People’s Writing (October - December, 1944
• “Song and Dance” published in “The War Decade: An Anthology of the 1940s” by Andrew Sinclair, 1989 (page 34)

George Scurfield is referenced in Tambittu's Poetry in Wartime by H.M. Klein, an anthology of war poetry.

Novels

• The Bamboo House, published by Michael Joseph Ltd. (London, 1950).
• Alone With Our Day, published by Michael Joseph Ltd. (London, 1952).

Non-fiction

• A Stickful of Nonpareil, with illustrations by Edward Ardizzone
  Edward Ardizzone
  Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone, CBE, RA was an English artist, writer and illustrator, chiefly of children's books.-Early life:...
  
  , published by Cambridge University Press
  Cambridge University Press
  Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
  
  , 1956. This 58 page book, (15 illustrations in the text) contained reminiscence of sixty years at the Cambridge University Press, and was printed in a limited edition of only 500 copies for presentation at Christmas.
• Gardening for Fun by George Scurfield, published 1959.
• Home Baked, A Little Book of Bread Recipes (ISBN 0-571-09844-4), by George and Cecilia Scurfield, Illustrated by Nora Kay. (1959), 86 pages.
• Home-Made Cakes and Biscuits (ISBN 1 897959 109), by George and Cecilia Scurfield.
• New York Times Menu Cook Book, by George and Cecilia Scurfield, published by H&R (New York, 1966).
• Fakenham and Folkestone Etcetera (ISBN 0948400072), published by The Larks Press, 1988, 356 pages.
• The Bitter Mangoes, memoirs of his years at St John's and his wartime service in the Far East for which he was awarded the Military Cross
  Military Cross
  The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
  
  , 1938-45. Written in 1991. 101 pages.