Heppenstall, Rayner, 1911-1981

(John) Rayner Heppenstall (1911-1981), the novelist, poet, critic, BBC producer, and criminal historian, was born in Lockwood, Huddersfield, on 27 July 1911 and educated at Huddersfield College and Leeds University, where he graduated in Modern Languages in 1932, and obtained a Diploma in Education in 1933. After a brief period teaching in Dagenham, he moved to London to start a career as a freelance writer and critic. Here he met many other writers and wrote most of his published poetry before the outbreak of the Second World War. After war service in Yorkshire and Northern Ireland, he joined the BBC as a features writer and drama producer, mainly for the Third Programme. Most of his novels were written during this period. In 1967 he became a freelance writer again and moved with his wife, Margaret, to Deal, Kent in 1974. Here he translated from French, wrote further novels, and developed an interest in criminal history. He died on 23 May 1981. His journal, which he had kept for many years, was edited after his death by Jonathan Goodman and published as The Master Eccentric in 1986.

From the guide to the Literary manuscripts, journals, press cuttings, and correspondence of Rayner Heppenstall, 1933-1987, (Leeds University Library)

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