The Hon. Charlotte Bingham (born 29 June 1942) is an English novelist who has written over 30 mainly historical

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

s and has also written for many television programmes including '' Upstairs, Downstairs''; ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

''; and '' Robin's Nest''. In her television work, she often worked with her husband, Terence Brady.

Biography

Early life

The Honourable Charlotte Mary Thérèse Bingham was born on 29 June 1942 in

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...

, Sussex. Her father,

John Bingham, 7th Baron Clanmorris John Michael Ward Bingham, 7th Baron Clanmorris (3 November 1908 – 6 August 1988) was a onetime MI5 spy and an English novelist who published 17 thrillers, detective novels, and spy novels. Personal life Bingham was the son of Arthur Bing ...

, wrote detective stories and was a secret member of

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

. Her mother,

Madeleine Bingham Madeleine Mary Bingham (1912-1988, Ebel, sometimes misspelled Madeline) was a playwright, novelist and historian. She also wrote under the pseudonym Julia Mannering. She was married to John Bingham, 7th Baron Clanmorris, so had the title Baroness ...

, née Madeleine Mary Ebel, was a playwright and biographer. Bingham first attended a school in London, but from the age of seven to 16, she went to the Priory of Our Lady's Good Counsel school in Haywards Heath. After she left school, Bingham went to stay in Paris with some French

aristocrats Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word' ...

with the intention of learning French. She had written since she was 10 years old and her first piece of work was a thriller called ''Death's Ticket''. Bingham wrote her humorous autobiography, called ''Coronet Among the Weeds'', when she was 19, and not long before her twentieth birthday a literary agent discovered her celebrating at the Ritz. He was a friend of her parents and he took off the finished manuscript of her autobiography. In 1963, this was published by

Heinemann Heinemann may refer to: * Heinemann (surname) * Heinemann (publisher), a publishing company * Heinemann Park, a.k.a. Pelican Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States See also * Heineman * Jamie Hyneman James Franklin Hyneman (born Se ...

and was a best seller.

TV work

In 1966, Charlotte Bingham's first novel, '' Lucinda'', was published. This was later adapted into a TV screenplay. ''Coronet Among the Grass'', her second autobiography (1972), dealt with the first ten years of her marriage to fellow writer Terence Brady. The couple, who have two children, later adapted ''Coronet Among the Grass'' and ''Coronet Among the Weeds'', into the TV sitcom ''

No, Honestly ''No, Honestly'' is a British television sitcom that starred real-life married couple John Alderton and Pauline Collins as Charles ("C.D.") Danbee and Claira Burrell. It depicted their meeting and courtship up to their first wedding anniversar ...

''. Bingham and her husband collaborated on the scripts for three early episodes of '' Upstairs, Downstairs'', "

Board Wages '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' is a British television drama series created by Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins, and developed by Alfred Shaughnessy for London Weekend Television. The series consists of 68 hour-long episodes that aired in the United K ...

", " I Dies from Love" and "

Out of the Everywhere ''Out of the Everywhere'' is a collection of seventeen scientific essays written by American writer and scientist Isaac Asimov and originally published in ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''. The title comes from the opening lines of ...

". They later wrote an accompanying book called '' Rose's Story''. They also wrote the episodes of ''

Take Three Girls ''Take Three Girls'' is a television drama series broadcast by BBC1 between 1969 and 1971 that follows three young women sharing a flat in "Swinging London" (located at 17 Glazbury Road, West Kensington, W14). It was BBC1's first colour drama se ...

'' featuring Victoria (

Liza Goddard Louise Elizabeth Goddard (born 20 January 1950) professionally known as Liza Goddard, is an English television and stage actress, best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s. Early life Goddard was born in Smethwick, Staffordshire.Before 1 ...

). In the 1970s, Brady and Bingham wrote episodes for the TV series ''

'', ''

Three Comedies of Marriage 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 190 ...

'', ''

Yes, Honestly ''Yes, Honestly'' is a British television sitcom that aired on ITV from 9 January 1976 and 23 April 1977. It stars Donal Donnelly as Matthew Browne and Liza Goddard as Lily Pond Browne. The series followed the course of their relationship, from ...

'' and '' Robin's Nest''. During the 1980s and 1990s, they continued to write for the occasional TV series and adapted

Jilly Cooper Jilly Cooper, CBE (born 21 February 1937), is an English author. She began her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. She is most famous for wr ...

's novel '' Riders'' for the

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

'' Riders'' (1993).

Later work

Since the 1980s, Bingham has become a romantic novelist, writing novels including ''To Hear a Nightingale'', ''The Business'' and ''In Sunshine or in Shadow''. Most of her books are set in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1996, she won the

Romantic Novel of the Year Award The Romantic Novel of the Year Award is an award for romance novels since 1960, presented by Romantic Novelists' Association, and since 2003, the novellas, also won the Love Story of the Year (now RoNA Rose Award). In 2018, awards were given to ...

from the

Romantic Novelists' Association The Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) is the professional body that represents authors of romantic fiction in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1960 by Denise Robins (first president), Barbara Cartland (first vice-president), Vivian Stuart ...

Bibliography

Non fiction

* ''Coronet Among the Weeds'' (1963) * ''Coronet Among the Grass'' (1972) * ''MI5 And Me'' (2018) * ''Spies and Stars: MI5, Showbusiness and Me'' (2019)

Novels

* ''Lucinda'' (1966) * ''The Business'' (1989) * ''In Sunshine or in Shadow'' (1991) * ''Stardust'' (1992) * ''Nanny'' (1993) * ''Change of Heart'' (1994) * ''Grand Affair'' (1997) * ''Love Song'' (1998) * ''The Kissing Garden'' (1999) * ''Country Wedding'' (1999) * ''The Blue Note'' (2000) * ''The Love Knot'' (2000) * ''Summertime'' (2001) * ''Distant Music'' (2002) * ''The Magic Hour'' (2005) * ''Friday's Girl'' (2005) * ''Out of the Blue'' (2006) * ''In Distant Fields'' (2006) * ''The White Marriage'' (2007) * ''Goodnight Sweetheart'' (2007) * ''The Enchanted'' (2008) * ''The Land of Summer'' (2008) * ''The Daisy Club'' (2009)

Love Quartet

# ''Belgravia'' (1983) # ''Country Life'' (1985) # ''At Home'' (1986) # ''By Invitation'' (1993)

Nightingale Saga

# ''To Hear a Nightingale'' (1988) # ''The Nightingale Sings'' (1996)

Debutantes Saga

# ''Debutantes'' (1995) # ''The Season'' (2001)

The Bexham Trilogy

# ''The Chestnut Tree'' (2002) # ''The Wind Off the Sea'' (2003) # ''The Moon at Midnight'' (2003)

Eden Saga

# ''Daughters of Eden'' (2004) # ''The House of Flowers'' (2004)

Mums on the Run Series

# ''Mums on the Run'' (2010) # ''A Dip Before Breakfast'' (2012)

With Terence Brady

Victoria Series

# ''Victoria'' (1972) # ''Victoria and Company'' (1974)

Honestly Series

# ''No, Honestly'' (1974) # ''Yes, Honestly'' (1977)

Upstairs, Downstairs Series

# ''Rose's Story'' (1972)

References and sources

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bingham, Charlotte 1942 births Living people Daughters of barons English historical novelists English romantic fiction writers English television writers British women screenwriters English screenwriters People from Haywards Heath English women novelists British women television writers 20th-century English novelists 21st-century British novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers Women romantic fiction writers Women historical novelists