David Henry Wilson (born 1937, in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) is an English writer. As an author he is best known for his children's stories such as the '' Jeremy James'' series. Wilson has also had a number of plays produced in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, both for children and adults. He is also the author of '' The Coachman Rat'' (1989), a satirical novel based on the

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

story.

Biography

Wilson was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He has lived in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and Switzerland, and for many years was a lecturer at the universities of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

(where he founded and ran the university theatre). Wilson has had many books published in the

. A number of these have also been translated into other languages. He also translates many works from French and German, ranging from children's books by Kirsten Boie to travel guides by Peter Sager, art history by Werner Hofmann, and literary theory by

Wolfgang Iser Wolfgang Iser (22 July 1926 – 24 January 2007) was a German literary scholar. Biography Wolfgang Iser was born in Marienberg, Germany. His parents were Paul and Else (Steinbach) Iser. He studied literature in the universities of Leipzig and T� ...

. He is also a prolific playwright, writing both short and full-length works. A common theme appears to be sequels to works by

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Personal life

Wilson is widowed and has three grown-up children; he now lives in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. He is a fan of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

and classical music and also enjoys

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

. His youngest child, J.J. Amaworo Wilson is an American-based author whose magical realist novel ''Damnificados'' is an award winner.

Selected works for children

*The Jeremy James series, comprising: **''Elephants Don’t Sit on Cars (1978)'' **''Never Say Moo to a Bull'', formerly ''Getting Rich With Jeremy James'' (1979) **''How the Lion Lost his Lunch'', formerly ''Beside the Sea with Jeremy James'' (1980) **''Can a Spider Learn to Fly?'', formerly ''How to Stop a Train with One Finger'' (1983) **''Do Goldfish Play the Violin?'' (1985) **''Please Keep Off the Dinosaur'' (1993) **''Do Gerbils Go to Heaven?'' (1996) **''Never Steal Wheels from a Dog'' (2001) *These have been combined by Macmillan Children’s Books into three volumes: **''Triple Trouble with Jeremy James'' **''Causing Chaos with Jeremy James'' **''Making Mischief with Jeremy James'' *The Fastest Gun Alive *The Superdog series - ''Superdog'', ''Superdog the Hero'', ''Superdog in Trouble'' *Gander of the Yard, Gideon Gander Solves the World's Greatest Mysteries *'' The Coachman Rat'', a novel (Carroll & Graf, 1989) *''The Castle of Inside Out'' (Alma Books, 1997)

Selected plays

*''We’re Looking for Mary Pickford''. Two ancient children rebel against their mother. *''Jones v Jones''. The disintegration of a marriage. *''Who Cares?'' A farcical tragedy, in which two pensioners prepare to donate their meagre savings to charity *''

People in Cages ''People in Cages'' is a short play by the British writer, David Henry Wilson, first performed in 2000. The play consists of four short vignettes, each of which revolves around different individuals or groups of people locked inside a cage for ...

''. *''Are You Normal, Mr Norman? & other short plays'', including the title play, in which Mr Norman visits a demon dentist *''The Death Artist''. *''Gas and Candles'' *''The Make-Up Artist'' (1973),

one-act A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

play employing extensive quotation from Shakespeare.

Selected Shakespearian themed plays

*''Shylock's Revenge'', a full-length sequel to ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

'' (

Shakespearian William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

–sized cast, first produced at

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vo ...

). *''Iago, The Villain of Venice'', a full-length sequel to '' Othello'' (another large cast). *''Excellent Beauty & other short plays'', including ''How To Avoid A Tragedy'', a 30-minute, happy-ending romp through Shakespeare's four great

tragedies Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

(3m, 1f, winner of the Hydrae Prize 2003.) "Very witty, light and entertaining" ( Royal Shakespeare Company). *''

Lear Lear or Leir may refer to: Acronyms * Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios, a Mexican association of revolutionary artists and writers * Low Energy Ion Ring, an ion pre-accelerator of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN ** Low Energy Antipr ...

Fool Fool, The Fool, or Fools may refer to: *A jester, also called a ''fool'', a type of historical entertainer known for their witty jokes *An insult referring to someone of low intelligence or easy gullibility Arts, entertainment and media Fictio ...

/ The Tragedy of Lady Macbeth''. Two one-hour plays, exploring two of Shakespeare's most enigmatic characters. (4m, 1f and a minimum of 4m, 2f, first produced at the

Jermyn Street Theatre Jermyn Street Theatre is a performance venue situated on Jermyn Street, in London's West End. It is an off-west end studio theatre. History Jermyn Street Theatre opened in August 1994. It was formerly the changing rooms for staff at a Spaghetti ...

, London.) "Rewriting Shakespeare requires a fair amount of courage, not to mention talent – both of which David Henry Wilson appears to possess in considerable amounts" (''West End Extra'').

References

External links

HopeCorner.net
– The works of David Henry Wilson {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, David Henry 1937 births Living people Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge English children's writers English dramatists and playwrights People educated at Dulwich College French–English translators German–English translators English translators English male dramatists and playwrights English male non-fiction writers