Nigel Balchin
Encyclopedia
Nigel Balchin was an English
novelist and screenwriter
particularly known for his novels written during and immediately after World War II
: Darkness Falls From the Air, The Small Back Room
(which popularised the terms "boffin
" and "backroom boys
") and Mine Own Executioner.
, Wiltshire to William and Ada Balchin. He was educated at Dauntsey's School
and Peterhouse, Cambridge
, where he took a scholarship and became a Prizeman in Natural Sciences. He then worked for the National Institute of Industrial Psychology between 1930 and 1935, becoming a consultant to JS Rowntree & Sons
, where he was intimately involved in the design and marketing of Black Magic chocolates. and, he claimed, responsible for the success of the Aero and Kit Kat brands.
He wrote for Punch magazine, published as Mark Spade, and also wrote novels under his own name. During World War II
he was a civil servant at the Ministry of Food, and then a successful scientific adviser, rising to the rank of Brigadier
.
In 1956, he moved abroad to write screenplays in Hollywood and elsewhere, but was increasingly troubled by alcoholism, and returned to England
in 1962. He died in 1970 at a nursing home in Hampstead
, London
, and is buried in Hampstead Cemetery
.
and was written while the bombing was still in progress. The Small Back Room
became a Powell and Pressburger
film. A Way Through the Wood was adapted as a stage play Waiting for Gillian, and as the 2005 film Separate Lies
.
As a screenwriter he worked on an early draft of Cleopatra
but is principally remembered for The Man Who Never Was
, for which he won the 1956 BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay, and Mandy
, the story of a deaf child.
with children:
His first marriage broke up following a partner-swapping arrangement between the Balchins, the artist Michael Ayrton
and the latter's partner Joan. Elisabeth divorced Balchin to marry Ayrton in 1952.
He married secondly in 1953 Yovanka Zorana Tomich, with children:
Nowadays, Yovanka uses the name Jane.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
novelist and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
particularly known for his novels written during and immediately after 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...
: Darkness Falls From the Air, The Small Back Room
The Small Back Room
The Small Back Room is a film by the British producer-writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger starring David Farrar and Kathleen Byron and featuring Jack Hawkins and Cyril Cusack. It was based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin...
(which popularised the terms "boffin
Boffin
In the slang of the United Kingdom, boffins are scientists, medical doctors, engineers, and other people engaged in technical or scientific research.-Origin:...
" and "backroom boys
Boffin
In the slang of the United Kingdom, boffins are scientists, medical doctors, engineers, and other people engaged in technical or scientific research.-Origin:...
") and Mine Own Executioner.
Life
He was born Nigel Marlin Balchin in PotternePotterne
Potterne is a village in the English county of Wiltshire. The civil parish of Potterne includes the hamlet of Potterne Wick. In the census of 2001, the village had a population of 1,570. It is located slightly to the south of Devizes and lies on the A360 which passes from Devizes to Salisbury...
, Wiltshire to William and Ada Balchin. He was educated at Dauntsey's School
Dauntsey's School
Dauntsey's School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the village of West Lavington, Wiltshire, England. The School was founded in 1542, in accordance with the will of William Dauntesey, a master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers....
and Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...
, where he took a scholarship and became a Prizeman in Natural Sciences. He then worked for the National Institute of Industrial Psychology between 1930 and 1935, becoming a consultant to JS Rowntree & Sons
Rowntree's
Rowntree's was a confectionery business based in York, England. It is now a historic brand owned by Nestlé, used to market a range of fruit gums and pastilles formerly owned by Rowntree's. Following a merger with John Mackintosh & Co., the Company became known as Rowntree Mackintosh, was listed on...
, where he was intimately involved in the design and marketing of Black Magic chocolates. and, he claimed, responsible for the success of the Aero and Kit Kat brands.
He wrote for Punch magazine, published as Mark Spade, and also wrote novels under his own name. 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...
he was a civil servant at the Ministry of Food, and then a successful scientific adviser, rising to the rank of Brigadier
Brigadier
Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
.
In 1956, he moved abroad to write screenplays in Hollywood and elsewhere, but was increasingly troubled by alcoholism, and returned to 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...
in 1962. He died in 1970 at a nursing home in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, 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...
, and is buried in Hampstead Cemetery
Hampstead Cemetery
Hampstead Cemetery is a historic cemetery in West Hampstead, London, located at the upper extremity of the NW6 district. Despite the name, the cemetery is three-quarters of a mile from Hampstead Village, and bears a different postcode...
.
Writing
His novels enjoyed great popular success for a time. Darkness Falls From the Air is set during the London BlitzThe Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
and was written while the bombing was still in progress. The Small Back Room
The Small Back Room
The Small Back Room is a film by the British producer-writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger starring David Farrar and Kathleen Byron and featuring Jack Hawkins and Cyril Cusack. It was based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin...
became a Powell and Pressburger
Powell and Pressburger
The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1981 they were recognized for their contributions to British cinema with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the most prestigious...
film. A Way Through the Wood was adapted as a stage play Waiting for Gillian, and as the 2005 film Separate Lies
Separate Lies
Separate Lies is a 2005 British drama film directed by Julian Fellowes who also wrote the screenplay, updating the 1951 novel A Way Through the Wood by Nigel Balchin that had already been turned into a stage play under the title Waiting for Gillian in 1957. The film stars Tom Wilkinson, Emily...
.
As a screenwriter he worked on an early draft of Cleopatra
Cleopatra (1963 film)
Cleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...
but is principally remembered for The Man Who Never Was
The Man Who Never Was
The Man Who Never Was is a nonfiction 1953 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 Second World War war film, based on the book and dramatising actual events...
, for which he won the 1956 BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay, and Mandy
Mandy (film)
Mandy was a 1952 Ealing Studios film, based on the book The Day Is Ours by Hilda Lewis, with screenplay by Nigel Balchin and Jack Whittingham, and direction by Alexander Mackendrick and Fred Sears. Another title for the film was Crash of Silence...
, the story of a deaf child.
Family
Balchin was married twice, firstly in 1933 div 1951 to Elisabeth Evelyn Walshe (1910–1991, daughter of the novelist Douglas Walshe) whom he had met at Cambridge where she was reading English at NewnhamNewnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1871 by Henry Sidgwick, and was the second Cambridge college to admit women after Girton College...
with children:
- Prudence Ann Balchin (born 1934), who married 'Z Car' scriptwriter John HopkinsJohn Hopkins (writer)John Richard Hopkins was an English film, stage, and television writer.Born in southwest London, he graduated from St Catharine's College, Cambridge...
and ran a successful zoo for many years. - Penelope Jane BalchinPenelope LeachDr. Penelope J. Leach is a British psychologist who writes extensively on parenting issues from a child development perspective....
(born 1937), better known as childcare expert Dr Penelope LeachPenelope LeachDr. Penelope J. Leach is a British psychologist who writes extensively on parenting issues from a child development perspective....
, who married the noted science journalist Gerald Leach (1933–2004) - Freja Mary Balchin (born 1944), who became the first female president of Cambridge University's Student Union and married Richard GregoryRichard GregoryRichard Langton Gregory, CBE, MA, D.Sc., FRSE, FRS was a British psychologist and Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychology at the University of Bristol.-Life and career:...
, a leading psychologist.
His first marriage broke up following a partner-swapping arrangement between the Balchins, the artist Michael Ayrton
Michael Ayrton
Michael Ayrton was an English artist and writer, known as a painter, printmaker and sculptor, and also as a critic, broadcaster and novelist...
and the latter's partner Joan. Elisabeth divorced Balchin to marry Ayrton in 1952.
He married secondly in 1953 Yovanka Zorana Tomich, with children:
- Charles Zoran Marlin Balchin (born 1955), who is a leading figure in the world of sport and television having held senior roles at the BBC, Sky Sports and various overseas broadcasters
- Cassandra Marlin Balchin (born 1962), who is one of the most sought-after authorities on women's rights under Islamic law.
Nowadays, Yovanka uses the name Jane.
Books by Mark Spade
- How to Run a Bassoon Factory; or Business Explained (1934)
- Business for Pleasure (1935)
- Fun and Games - How to Win at Almost Anything (1936)
- How to Run a Bassoon Factory and Business for Pleasure (1950)
Novels by Nigel Balchin
- No Sky (1934)
- Simple Life (1935)
- Lightbody on Liberty (1936)
- Darkness Falls from the Air (1942)
- The Small Back RoomThe Small Back RoomThe Small Back Room is a film by the British producer-writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger starring David Farrar and Kathleen Byron and featuring Jack Hawkins and Cyril Cusack. It was based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin...
(1943), made into a filmThe Small Back RoomThe Small Back Room is a film by the British producer-writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger starring David Farrar and Kathleen Byron and featuring Jack Hawkins and Cyril Cusack. It was based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin...
in 1949 - Mine Own Executioner (1945), made into a filmMine Own ExecutionerMine Own Executioner is a 1947 British drama film directed by Anthony Kimmins. It was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Burgess Meredith - Felix Milne* Dulcie Gray - Patricia Milne* Michael Shepley - Peter Edge...
in 1947 - Lord, I Was Afraid (1947)
- The Borgia Testament (1948)
- A Sort of Traitors (1949), made into a filmSuspect (1960 film)Suspect is a 1960 British thriller film directed by Roy Boulting and John Boulting. It starred Tony Britton, Virginia Maskell, Ian Bannen, Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence...
in 1960 - A Way Through the Wood (1951), made into a stage play Waiting for Gillian, and the 2005 film Separate LiesSeparate LiesSeparate Lies is a 2005 British drama film directed by Julian Fellowes who also wrote the screenplay, updating the 1951 novel A Way Through the Wood by Nigel Balchin that had already been turned into a stage play under the title Waiting for Gillian in 1957. The film stars Tom Wilkinson, Emily...
. - Sundry Creditors (1953)
- The Fall of the Sparrow (1955)
- Seen Dimly Before Dawn (1962)
- In the Absence of Mrs. Petersen (1966)
- Kings of Infinite Space (1967)
Screenplays by Nigel Balchin
- Fame is the Spur (film)Fame is the Spur (film)Fame is the Spur is a 1947 British drama film directed by Roy Boulting. It stars Michael Redgrave, Rosamund John, Bernard Miles, David Tomlinson, Maurice Denham and Kenneth Griffith. A British politician rises to power, abandoning on the way his radical views for more conservative ones...
(1947) - Mine Own ExecutionerMine Own ExecutionerMine Own Executioner is a 1947 British drama film directed by Anthony Kimmins. It was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Burgess Meredith - Felix Milne* Dulcie Gray - Patricia Milne* Michael Shepley - Peter Edge...
(1947) - MandyMandy (film)Mandy was a 1952 Ealing Studios film, based on the book The Day Is Ours by Hilda Lewis, with screenplay by Nigel Balchin and Jack Whittingham, and direction by Alexander Mackendrick and Fred Sears. Another title for the film was Crash of Silence...
(1952) - The Malta Story (1953)
- Josephine and Men (1955)
- The Man Who Never WasThe Man Who Never WasThe Man Who Never Was is a nonfiction 1953 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 Second World War war film, based on the book and dramatising actual events...
(1955) - The Leader of the House (written for TV 1955)
- 23 Paces to Baker Street23 Paces to Baker Street23 Paces to Baker Street is a 1956 American drama film released by 20th Century Fox. The Hitchcockian mystery thriller, filmed in Cinemascope on location in London, focuses on Philip Hannon, a blind playwright who overhears a partial conversation he believes is related to the planning of a kidnapping...
(1956) - The Barbarian and the GeishaThe Barbarian and the GeishaThe Barbarian and the Geisha is a 1958 film starring John Wayne, Sam Jaffe and Japanese American actress Eiko Ando set in 1850s Japan. Shot largely on location, it was directed by John Huston.-Plot:...
(not credited 1958) - The Blue AngelThe Blue Angel (1959 film)-Cast:* Curd Jürgens as Professor Immanuel Rath * May Britt as Lola-Lola* Theodore Bikel as Klepert* John Banner as Principal Harter* Fabrizio Mioni as Rolf* Ludwig Stössel as Dr. Fritz Heine* Wolfe Barzell as Clown* Ina Anders as Gussie...
(1959) - SuspectSuspect (1960 film)Suspect is a 1960 British thriller film directed by Roy Boulting and John Boulting. It starred Tony Britton, Virginia Maskell, Ian Bannen, Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence...
(1960) - Circle of Deception (1960)
- The Singer Not the SongThe Singer Not the SongThe Singer Not the Song is a 1961 British drama film based on the novel by Audrey Erskine Lindop that was directed by Roy Ward Baker and filmed in Spain.-Cast:*Dirk Bogarde as Anacleto Comachi*John Mills as Father Michael Keogh...
(1961) - Barabbas (1961)
- The Hatchet Man (written for TV 1962)
- CleopatraCleopatra (1963 film)Cleopatra is a 1963 British-American-Swiss epic drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy...
(not credited 1963) - Better Dead (written for TV 1969)
Miscellaneous
- Income and Outcome (1936)
- The Aircraft Builders (1947)
- The Anatomy of Villainy (1950)
- Last Recollections of My Uncle Charles (1954) stories
- The Worker in Modern Industry (1954)
- Fatal Fascination (1964) essays by Balchin and three other writers
External links
- Essay on Balchin by Clive James http://www.clivejames.com/pieces/hercules/balchin
- Balchin family history