David Anthony Yallop (27 January 1937 – 23 August 2018) was a British author who wrote chiefly about unsolved crimes. In the 1970s, he contributed scripts for a number of BBC comedy shows. In the same decade he also wrote 10 episodes for the ITV court drama, ''

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

''. His controversial book, ''In God's Name: An Investigation Into the Murder of Pope John Paul I'' (1984), posited that Pope John Paul I, found dead at age 65 in his chambers barely a month after becoming pope in 1978, had been poisoned by secretive Masons who had infiltrated the Vatican and the Vatican Bank. Reviewers, and the Church, dismissed the book as groundless conspiracy theory. The book made the

New York Times Best Seller list ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

for 15 weeks, was translated into multiple languages, and was repeatedly reprinted, selling over six million copies. In October 1992 he lost his job when, as a scriptwriter for ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'', he proposed killing some of the characters by means of an IRA bomb. Yallop successfully sued the BBC for

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party ...

. He was also one of the co-authors of Graham Chapman's autobiography, ''

A Liar's Autobiography (Volume VI) ''A Liar's Autobiography: Volume VI'' is a comical autobiography written by Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame, featuring a fictionalised account of his life. First published in Britain in 1980, it was republished in 1991, 1999 and 2011. Unusu ...

''. Yallop described himself as a "Catholic agnostic". Yallop suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his later years. He died aged 81 in London on 23 August 2018, leaving a widow (his second wife, Anna Rutherford), three daughters, and a son. The cause of death was complications of pneumonia.Daniel E. Slotnik, "David Yallop, Who Wrote of Crime and Conspiracy, Dies at 81," ''The New York Times'', September 14, 2018.
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Books

His books include: *''To Encourage The Others'' (about the Craig/Bentley murder case) *''The Day The Laughter Stopped'' (a biography of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle) *''Beyond Reasonable Doubt?'' (the conviction of New Zealand farmer Arthur Allan Thomas (later pardoned), for the

murder of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe __NOTOC__ David Harvey Crewe (20 October 1941 – 17 June 1970) and Jeannette Lenore Crewe (née Demler; 6 February 1940 – 17 June 1970) were a New Zealand farming couple who were shot to death in their home around 17 June 1970. The murders ...

) was made into a docu-drama feature film, 1978, *''Deliver Us From Evil'' (about the Yorkshire Ripper) *''

In God's Name ''In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I'' is a book by David A. Yallop about the death of Pope John Paul I. It was published in 1984 by Bantam Books. Potential danger Yallop proposes the theory that the pope was in " ...

: An Investigation into the

Murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

of Pope John Paul I'',

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...

, 1984 *''To the Ends of the Earth'' (about the capture of

Carlos the Jackal Ilich Ramírez Sánchez (; born 12 October 1949), also known as Carlos the Jackal ( es, link=no, Carlos el Chacal) or simply Carlos, is a Venezuelan convicted of terrorist crimes, and currently serving a life sentence in France for the 1975 murder ...

) *''How They Stole the Game'' (about corruption in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

) *''Unholy Alliance'' (about the international drug trade and resultant political corruption) *''The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of Pope John Paul II's Vatican'' (about the Papacy of Pope John Paul II) *''Beyond Belief'' (about the sexual abuse allegations in the Catholic Church) *''Ratlines'' (about how Nazis escaped with the help of the Vatican)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yallop, David 1937 births 2018 deaths British agnostics British non-fiction writers Former Roman Catholics British crime journalists British dramatists and playwrights British male dramatists and playwrights People from London Critics of the Catholic Church Male non-fiction writers Deaths from pneumonia in England Neurological disease deaths in England Deaths from Alzheimer's disease