Forgotten Scribes : John Keir Cross : 19 August 1914 - 22 January 1967

 

Writer & Scriptwriter

John Keir Cross

A Forgotten Scribe 

1914-1967

John Keir Cross was an author of adult fantasy and horror stories. He also wrote many books especially for children. In addition he wrote and adapted stories for radio, famously working for several years as the  main scriptwriter  on “ The Archers” – for  BBC Radio- a programme still going strong today.

John also wrote the script for the first episode for Dr Finlay’s Casebook for TV and was a regular name as an adaptor of  Stevenson’s children’s classics, “Treasure Island”, and “Kidnapped”, for radio and TV. 

Born in Carluke, his childhood years were spent there and in Perth  in Scotland where  he became a well- kent children’s entertainer , with a remarkable feat for ventriloquism. But his job was in insurance and he soon tired of its boredom and routine. 

Son of Hugh Anderson Cross ( a school dentist)  and Lizzie Birch, there was a brother Harry who was lost at sea in WW2 and a brother David who established a large Cross clan in Glasgow and Dunbartonshire.

In 1937 John famously walked from Perth to London, with rucksack and frying pan dangling  from his back,  to seek fame and fortune and wrote an early autobiography telling of this  eventual trip, called “ Aspects of Life”, later appearing on the radio’s popular show, “ In Town Tonight”  to repeat the story of his epic journey where he was arrested en route for a murder.

John was  an  early pioneer of radio for the BBC and helped set up  the BBC studios in Glasgow in WW2 , where he became a regular Saturday night broadcaster, whilst secretly working for the Ministry of Information and was an unsung amongst  many scribes who hit hard  for the war effort behind a typewriter or a microphone.

John also wrote under the name of Stephen Macfarlane.

His fantasy titles include “ The Man in Moonlight” (1947), “The White Magic” (1947) and “The Dancing Tree (1955).  His historical tales include “ The Owl and the Pussycat (1946), “ The Other Side of Green Hills ( 1947).

As Macfarlane John  produced a series for younger children including “ The Blue Egg” (1944, “Lucy Maroon, the Car that Loved a Policeman” (1944, “Mr Bosanko and Other Stories” ( 1944) and “The Strange Tale of Sally and Arnold” (1944).

His stories for adults include  “ The Other Passenger: 19 Strange Stories ( 1944). Look out for the  1961 reprint with surreal full-colour illustrations by Bruce Angrave (1912-1983).

One reviewer says  "The Other Passenger" is an excellent Doppelgänger tale, and "The Glass Eye" one of the better Ventriloquism tales, though only "Clair de Lune" and "Esmeralda", both Ghost stories, are unequivocally supernatural…”

The Glass Eye”, was adapted for the Alfred Hitchcock TV series with Jessica Tandy as a lonely woman smitten with a ventriloquist, and also starring a very young William Shatner.

John anthologies include “Best Horror Stories” (1957), Best Horror Stories 2 ( 1965) and Best Black Magic Stories ( 1960).

Some of his other television work includes two episodes of the series “Sir Francis Drake” in 1962, a couple of “made for television” movies as well as adaptions of John Wyndham's “The Kraken Wakes”; Charles Dickens' “A Tale of Two Cities” and “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s adult romp,  “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”.

John Keir Cross died  today, on 22nd January, in  1967 . He had a  working farm called “Brushford” in Diptford, Devon, where he authentically wrote his work for BBC's “ The Archers”.  59 years ago this week many of  his BBC colleagues descended on "Brushford" to see how John intended the storylines of " The Archers" to pan out.

He was the sole writer. A lesson was learned that scripts for programmes should be generated by a team of people. 

John's  widow Audrey survived him and there were several children.   

William Cross, FSA Scot

( A cousin )

More information : contact williecross@aol.com

SOME COVERS  ETC OF JOHN'S BOOKS 

 

The Notorious Mitfords : A Talk From Tom's Biographer, William Cross, FSA Scot

 

“The Notorious Mitfords”  

Above: Unity, Tom, Deborah, Diana, Jessica, Nancy and Pam 

A Talk By William Cross, FSA Scot

Cwmbran, South Wales: 21 January 2026

The six famous Mitford sisters  led notorious lives in feats of scandal,  love, adultery, divorce and  following fascism as part of the 20th century's greatest  high jinx tales, and real  history and folklore.  No one  was allowed to ignore the Mitford clan. They are still talked about. The TV drama series called  “Outrageous” is  a word that sums them up perfectly.

 

The girls were Nancy (1904-1973), a writer, Pamela  (1907- 1994), ( Rural Miford ), Diana ( 1910-2003 ),  who deserted her first husband for the dangerous Oswald Mosley), Unity ( 1914-1948)  ( who pursued Adolf Hitler), Jessica (1917-1996),   (a Communist, a writer, & who became an American citizen), and Deborah, ( 1920-2014) , the youngest of the tribe who became Duchess of Devonshire & chatelaine of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.  There was one boy in the  line up,  third born, Tom, ( 1909-1945). He was not a headline seeker like his sisters, but a barrister, soldier and talented concert pianist.  Yet, he is as controversial as his sisters with a mangle of  love tangles & affairs involving both sexes. A handsome devil with a passion for married women.

 

The Mitford parents were minor British aristocrats.   David Freeman-Mitford ,  the  2nd Baron Redesdale  ( known to his children as "Farve" ) and his wife  Sydney Bowles ( known to her children as “Muv”).  They married, for  love, in 1904, but it was a underlying  business deal. The  Great War affected David’s position as the family’s “spare” after his elder brother was killed in action and so he became the Redesdale heir on his father’s death in 1916.

 

One  Mitford ancestor was a Lord Chancellor of England, another a notable traveller in Japan, who was a well known landscape gardener designing several Royal Estates for King Edward VII.   The Bowles family were sailors, Sydney’s father  was an  MP and publisher of  magazine titles including“ Vanity Fair” and “ The Lady”  .

 

Childhood for the Mitfords was in London and after the Great War, they lived in a succession of properties mainly in the Coltswolds. The countryside offered  a safe but fragile upbringing, with many madcap rituals, overseen by Muv,  nannies and governesses.    Money was tight but despite this it was remembered mostly with affection, although Nancy and Jessica  published critical accounts of their childhood. Each thought Muv was unloving and harsh and Farve a bully. Tom  was indulged by his parents and often resented by his sisters as he always got whatever he wanted.

 

Farve was an upright figure, a farmer/squire &  Peer, eccentric,  a stickler for rules, one being that girls should not be educated at  any school, only at home.  Tom however the family heir was  sent to preparatory and public school.  Muv was a curiously hands on character, with rules on food, health, based on her own upbringing with a ban on pork and shellfish and bizarre beliefs  that the good body did not need any  medicines, the good body would eventually  heal itself,  Muv  was a watchful wife and kept Farve from straying into the arms of other women, but he flirted with several domestic staff. Later, he had  a mistress whom he lived with for many years,  separating from Muv in the 1940s.  He died at Otterburn,  a Mitford homestead in Northumberland in 1958. Muv survived until 1963, and died in Scotland. Farve, Muv and four of the sisters, Nancy, Pam, Unity and Diana  are all buried at St Mary’s Churchyard, Swinbrook, a Mitford heritage site.  A memorial to Tom is also to be found inside the Church.

 

Farve  admired Muv’s ability with housekeeping budgets,  seeing that all six girls were prepared for presentation  at Court as debutantes and experienced foreign travel. The idea being that this route would find them husbands. The girls had they own ideas and each of them were a trouble to their parents  all their adult years.  Tom  was   Farve’s pride and joy. And Tom  was also always there for his sisters, despite their  many antics at home and abroad  and choice of husbands and lovers and friends and politics.  When troubles hit hardest Farve bought a Scottish Island, Inch Kenneth,  near Mull, which became the family’s refuge. Tragedies hit the Mitfords hard. Tom was killed in 1945  fighting the Japanese. Unity was reduced to a child like creature after attempting suicide and this led to her early death in 1948. The other girls lived to old age.

 

Will Cross  has made a close study of the Mitford clan  for a biography entitled  “ TOM MITFORD : A FEARFUL OLD TWISTER” & written  articles for the Mitford Society Journal.  He  is a writer and lecturer based in Newport,  a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.  Will’s  e-mail for enquiries on books/talks  williecross@aol.com

LINK TO EBAY

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205914483358

 

 

ANGUS McBEAN : SECOND COMING : AT ART ON THE HILL, NEWPORT, SOUTH WALES

 

ANGUS McBEAN’S SECOND COMING

IN ART ON THE HILL : ST MARKS CHURCH 

NEWPORT, SOUTH WALES NP20 4PH

SAT 29 NOVEMBER –SUN 30 NOVEMBER

12pm-5pm

FREE ENTRANCE

ST MARKS CHURCH NEWPORT NP20 4PH

ANGUS McBEAN ORIGINALS FROM THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT

SOME THEATRE ICONS

PHOTOS ON  BACK ROW :   NAMES  OF ACTORS/ ACTRESSES AND SETTING

PAUL ROGERS, (1917-2013),  in “JB’,  by Alexander Macleish  at the Phoenix Theatre,  London, 1961.

VIVIEN LEIGH, (1913-1967), in 1955,  as Viola   in Shakespeare’s  “ TWELFTH NIGHT” .

LAURENCE OLIVER,  (1907-1989 ) as  “ Titus Andronicus”  Stratford,  1955 Season.  

RICHARD BURTON, (1925-1984 ), as King Henry  V at Stratford Memorial Theatre, 1951.

PATRICK LUDLOW, (1903-1996). Best known for his roles in Noel Coward Comedies.

PHOTOS IN MIDDLE ROW : NAMES OF ACTORS/ACTRESSES AND SETTING

OKLAHOMA’. DRURY LANE, LONDON. 1948.  Howard Keel ( 1919-2004) as “Curly”.

DONALD SINDEN, (1923-2014),  as “JB’  at the Phoenix Theatre , London,  with  CONSTANCE CUMMINGS, ( 1910-2005). 

DONALD SINDEN, (1923-2014),  as “JB’  with PAUL ROGERS, ( 1917-2013),  as Nickles, Phoenix Theatre, London, 1961. 

Two Unknown Players in a Kodak reproduction. May be MICHAEL GOODLIFFE (  1914-1976) and ROSEMARY LEACH ( 1935-2017)  c1961. Kodak Image. found in a junk shop.

Appearing left to right   RODDY MAUDE –ROXBY (born 1930 ),  DONALD SINDEN,  (1923-2014),   GEOFFREY CHATER, (1921-2021),  &  FELIX FELTON,  ( 1911-1972), “ JB”, London. 

PHOTOS ON BOTTOM ROW: NAMES OF ACTORS/ ACTRESSES AND SETTING

Actress/ Fashion Icon AUDREY HEPBURN ( 1919-1993)  Poster Girl.  c 1950 Audrey in an  advert for LACTO-CALAMINE.

A Personal Christmas Card  Image from Angus and his partner David Ball to a friend, Marika. The message  reads “ For Marika Happy Christmas Love Angus and David”.

From 1936, Actors  IVOR  NOVELLO ( 1892-1951)  and MARIUS GORING ( 1912-1998)  in the play   “ The Happy Hypocrite” ,  HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE, LONDON. 

VIVIEN LEIGH,  (1913-1967), as Blanche de Bois in  Laurence Olivier’s English  Premier production of “ STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE”, in 1950, at the Aldwych Theatre, London.

GERALDINE McEWAN, (1932-2015) , in 1954,  as Annie in  “For Better, For Worse”, Comedy Theatre, London and on UK Tour. Studio Photograph by McBean.

QUENTIN CRISP, (1908-1990). Raconteur, Author and art model. Lover of  McBean in the 1930s.  The 1968 cover for Crisp’s  memoir “ The Naked Civil Servant”  is based on a photograph by Angus  McBean.

BEATRIX LEHMANN, (1903- 1979) Actress.  Studio Work,  London, 1938.

IVOR  NOVELLO,  (1892-1951) : Playwright  & Actor.  1930s.   Studio  Portrait. Portsmouth.

IVOR NOVELLO,  (1892-1951):  2nd image (c1930s) Studio Portrait. Portsmouth.

FRASER CAMERON LOWDEN, ( 1932-2003). Producer & Actor. Worked with Angus  McBean  in the 1958 Manchester production of “ WEST SIDE STORY”.

Further information/ contact William Cross on email

williecross@aol.com

BRIEF LIVES: GEOFFREY GOMER DAVIES: 1908-1954

 

BRIEF LIVES: GEOFFREY GOMER DAVIES: 1908-1954

ACTOR AND THEATRE OWNER WITH DAVID LAMBERT

Geoffrey Gomer [Davies] was born in London  on 7 February 1908 and died today on 4 November 1954 at Dartford in Kent.

His father was Robert Cropley Davies , ( 1874-1941),  a  solicitor, his mother, Ethel  Beatrice Woolf ( 1878-1952),  was a Yorkshire lass.  The family home  with several siblings, was first at Gerrards Cross and Geoffrey later moved to Hartford, near Dartford.

He was educated at Lancing College, West Sussex,  and became an army cadet, he later joined the Territorial Army and he was also a Police Reservist.

As “ Geoffrey Gomer” he made a name for himself  as a stage  actor and stage manager  with  his  close friend and business partner, David Lambert, whose family was based in Lewisham, South London.

                              The Richmond Players

The Gomer/ Lambert combo thrived  for many years, with weekly rep played out at the Theatre Royal, Lincoln and  The Scala, Dartford.  As the “Richmond Players” they toured the country  in a number of shows, including Emlyn Williams’ drama “ Night Must Fall”, the screw ball American comedy        farce “ Arsenic and Old Lace” and Noel Coward’s “ Hay Fever”. 

                             Where the Rainbow Ends

In the 1930s, a notable role for Geoffrey as an actor was to play St George for four years at the Holborn Empire in “ Where The Rainbow Ends”,  a favourite Christmas children's entertainment.

In 1932 Gomer received rave notices for his performance in an epic show,  “ Miracle at Verdum”, a war parable  staged at the Embassy Theatre, London.

He also co-starred  at the Apollo Theatre, with stage luminaries Sybil Throndike and Marie Tempest in “ The Distaff Side” and with Ellen Pollock and Leo Glenn in “ Beggars in Hell” at the Garrick Theatre, in 1933.

             Geoffrey the Broadcaster in Rome in WW2

During the Second World War Geoffrey was a prominent radio producer and front man for the BBC, broadcasting at ‘pop up’ stations throughout Europe. He was later on the staff of  the BBC’s Light programme department. He also formed the Geoffrey Gomer Agency, providing freelance news services.

After demob from the army he joined up with fellow actors  David Lambert (1916-1979)  and Kenneth Cleveland (1920-2004),  with a season at the little Torch Theatre at Hyde Park Corner, in Knightsbridge. Their first presentation was Jack Alldridge's war story, set in Italy,  “All This Is  Ended”.

 Geoffrey later appeared in an early live recorded  BBC TV film,  of  "All This Is Ended"   the play produced  at the Torch, about the affects of war and  "Without the Prince"  ( 1947)  another BBC production,  an adaptation of a stage play by Philip King, a farce set in a rural English village. 

In the 1950s, despite  success and popular support  Goeffrey and David's beloved  Richmond Players were hit hard with financial problems, worries over the lease of  the 900 seat  Scala Theatre at Dartford.  

Scala Theatre, Dartford ( now closed)

These two bold and brave theatre men tried to keep a brave face on things, forming a Theatre Club but other factors were beyond their control.

The last shows  at Scala in the mid 1950s remain the last legacy of  Geoffrey Gomer and  David Lambert.

https://theatricalia.com/place/64y/scala-theatre-dartford-dartford

But  the much  greater sadness was over the uncertainty created by the deterioration in Geoffrey’s health  and this brought  its own dire climax.   

  Geoffrey Gomer Davies Grave at All Saints, Hartley

The end came suddenly, Geoffrey died  at  the early age of 46, with so much left to do. He was buried at All Saints, Hartley, where a small gravestone ( much weathered by time) can be found.

Another of the very great what might have beens.

 

William Cross, FSA Scot

4 November 2025

For more information, contact Will by email.

williecross@aol.com

For more information contact Will 

 

Remembering Lt. Hon. Simon Fraser: Gordon Highlanders: Killed in Action 29 October 1914

 

                        

                              Hon. Simon Fraser (1888-1914)

                                 KILLED IN ACTION TODAY  29 OCTOBER 1914

                          A WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

The photograph of Simon, above, is from Charterhouse School. [1]  The only surviving photograph of  Simon otherwise is as a young boy. [2]   Alas, no photograph survives of him  in the Gordon Highlanders Museum Collection.

Hon. Simon Fraser, 2nd Lieutenant 3rd Battalion (attached to 2^nd Battalion) Gordon Highlanders was  killed in action on  29 October 1914. [3]  He is remembered on Panel 38 Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.  Son of 18th Baron Saltoun and Lady Saltoun, of Philorth, Fraserburgh, Aberdeen. Several of  the sons of the Saltouns served in the Great War.  [4]

Simon was born on 7 September 1888, educated at Winton House, Winchester (prep school) and Charterhouse School, Godalming. He took up a business career in the City of London with Greenwell & Co, and in 1912 became a member of the Stock Exchange.  He was gazetted a 2^nd Lieut. 3^rd Gordon Highlanders 7 September 1914.  Served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders. Later attached to the 2^nd Battalion of the Gordons.

Simon had everything to live for, handsome, sporty, a talented young man, like so many that were killed in battle in the Great War.  A what might have been, had he been spared. In the last year of his life he was often seen in the company of Hon. Gwyneth Ericka Morgan, ( 1895-1924), a childhood and family friend, they enjoyed each other's company at dances, balls and weekend jaunts to house parties.

Lieut. Col. H P Uniacke, commanding the 2^nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, wrote on 3 November 1914: “It is with the deepest regret that I write to tell you that poor Simon was killed .... when fighting a difficult rear guard action. Willie [5] (Simon’s younger brother) buried him in the morning of the 29 October in the grounds of an old chateau.”

  

A fellow officer, 2nd Lieut. Peter Duguid, adds: “Simon and I were with our platoons in a trench on the left of the Gordons’ position. The Germans came up on our left and drove back the troops there, and we had to take up new positions as we were enfiladed by a machine gun. In doing this I got a bullet through the flesh of my right arm. When we had time, Simon put on a field dressing for me, and also attended to two of his own men who were hit. We had to fall back to the village of Zandvoorde, where we helped to organise the men. About noon Simon very gallantly carried a box of ammunition to a machine gun over an open field under fire. I  rejoined him later and we took cover in a ditch during some very heavy shelling about 2pm. He had offered me a drink of water and had changed his position to further down the ditch when a shell burst near him and though I ran to him at once there was nothing I could do. I am sure he did not suffer.  I shall always think of his cheerfulness and fortitude whatever had to be done, He had an extraordinary aptitude for the work, and all his men liked him.” [6]

Ypres -Menin Gate Memorial

EXTRACTED FROM "THE MORGANS OF TREDEGAR HOUSE GREAT WAR ROLL OF HONOUR": BY WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT

CONTACT THE AUTHOR  FOR FURTHER DETAILS

williecross@aol.com

---

[1] Provided by Mrs A C Wheeler of Charterhouse School in 2008.

[2]  Enquiries were made in 2008 to establish whether a photograph of  Simon Fraser  survived in his family.  His niece [ the late]  Lady Saltoun was  approached by e-mail.  This is her reply of 6 January 2008. “Dear Mr. Cross  I should love to help you but I think you know more than I do about Uncle Simon's life.  The only photos of him extant in the family are photos of all four brothers aged from c.9 down to 5,  playing at Philorth, which are in the family album,  and I am not quite sure which is Simon and which is my father! They were very close in age. The family album is at Cairnbulg Castle,  Fraserburgh,  AB43 8TN,  which now belongs to my eldest daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Nicolson.  I don't for a moment suppose that a possible photo of him as a small boy is quite what you had in mind!    In the unlikely event that it is,  I am sure my daughter would let you send someone to photocopy the photos,  in that case you should write to her direct,  at the address I have given you. Yours sincerely, Saltoun”

[3] Simon Fraser was killed on 28 October 1914 and buried by his brother Hon. William Fraser (serving also in the Gordon Highlanders, 6^th Battalion) on 29 October 1914.

[4] Lord Saltoun’s eldest son, Alexander, The Master of Saltoun (1886-1979) (from 1933 20^th Lord Saltoun)  was also a Lieutenant in the Gordon Highlanders and was taken prisoner after the Battle of Mons. The 2nd son, the Hon. George Fraser (1887-1970)  (later a Rear Admiral)  was a Lieutenant  in the Royal Navy in the Great War.  The 4^th Son, William Fraser (1890-1964), also in the Gordons.

[5] William Fraser ( 1890-1964). A British army officer in both world wars. Reached the rank of Brigadier.

[6] Extracted from the book “  Menin Gate South: In Memory and In Mourning” By Paul Chapman, Pen and Sword (2016).

Fortune Press Writer : Terence Lucy Greenidge : (1902–1970)

 FORTUNE PRESS WRITERS 

 Terence Lucy Greenidge (1902–1970)

                      Terence Greenidge and Friends

Greenidge was  a poet, novelist, playwright, film-maker and actor.

A native of Oxford and product of Rugby Public School. He was a close friend and contemporary of Evelyn Waugh at Oxford and was a founding member of the infamous Hypocrites Club. He collaborated with Waugh in producing “ The Scarlet Woman: An Ecclesiastical Melodrama” a silent movie of note. More on this if you Google it.

His Fortune Press titles are:

The Magnificent. A story without a moral (Fortune Press, 1933)

Brass and Paint: A Patriotic Story (Fortune Press, 1934)

Tinpot Country: A story of England in the Dark Ages (Fortune Press, 1937)

Philip and the Dictator. A romantic story (Fortune Press, 1938)

Girls and Stations, etc. [Poems.] (Fortune Press, 1952)  : With a Forward by John Betjeman.. 

See  RA CATON AND FORTUNE PRESS BY  Timothy D’Arch Smith Nos 243-247.

Greenidge’s first two novels were seized and banned by the powers that be. Police confiscated “ The Magnificent” and “Brass and Paint” under the Obscene Publications Act of 1857. Both books were destroyed. However, RA Caton at Fortune Press, failed to comply with the destruction order and a handful of copies were still available for several years. All of Greenidge’s titles are now very hard to find.

Terence’s first publication was "Degenerate Oxford" (1930) , this is a curious defence of the varsity of youth. One copy is currently on sale on Abe Books for £250. 

As an actor Greenidge was occasionally seen in the West End of London shows and overseas and regional tours organized by the British Council and playing Shakespeare at Stratford. On film he appeared in Larry Olivier’s production of “Richard III”.

Famously, as a protest Greenidge withheld paying his income tax for 10 years, citing the BBC payments systems to actors as “ mean and cruel”. He was later declared bankrupt.

Greenidge married but exact details of his wife ( Nora ) are sparse.

A remarkable and recent summary of Terence Greenidge’s life and his mental health struggles, deliciously written by Hannah Minton, can be gleaned on this web link. A MUST READ!

https://substack.com/home/post/p-156712472

  

 

 Enquiries, email William Cross

williecross@aol.com