Denis Pitts (6 January 1930 – 19 April 1994) was a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, filmmaker and novelist. Denis Pitts first became widely known for his reports on the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

and his subsequent articles in the

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

. In Suez he made the acquaintance of

Michael Parkinson Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...

, who at the time was in charge of liaising with the press, and they would later work together for the Granada regional news programme, Scene at 6.30. While at Granada he wrote an episode of

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

and did a series of interviews with

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...

which the former prime minister agreed to if published posthumously. He continued to work in television making a film called ‘What the Hell Happens in

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

?’ which caused a stir locally. He went on to make ‘The World of

Gracie Fields Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was an English actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall who was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...

’ and ‘The World of

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

’ for the BBC. Gracie Fields revealed marital problems, also for posthumous publication, which he wrote up for

the People The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ' ...

. While making the Bob Hope film, he filmed the anti-Vietnam protest at Kent State University in which the National Guard killed four students. He published three novels. ''This City is Ours'' (US title: ''Target Manhattan'') about a native American hijacking of a ship in New York harbour; ''The Predator'' which told the story of a wealthy businessman kidnapping Common Market leaders during a summit and which includes a long section set during the Suez Crisis. The last one, ''Rogue Hercules'', tells of amoral pilots carrying a plane load of arms over southern African countries in search of a buyer. He was a senior editor for Chronicle yearbooks, ''Chronicle of the 20th Century'' and ''Chronicle of the World''. His ''Guardian'' obituary called him a ‘Fresh Breeze in Moscow’, relating to his stint working as the correspondent there for the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

''. Much earlier in his career he was the last editor of '' Lilliput'' where he gave cartoonist,

John Glashan John Glashan (born John McGlashan, 24 December 1927 – 15 June 1999Martin Plimmer,, ''The Independent'', 22 July 1999. Accessed 20 August 2016.) was a Scottish cartoonist, illustrator and playwright. He was the creator of the "Genius" cartoons. ...

his break. His views on the death of

Grace Archer Grace Archer (also Fairbrother) is a fictional character from the BBC's long-running radio soap, ''The Archers''. She was one of the original characters and was played by Monica Gray and then Ysanne Churchman. The episode depicting her death was b ...

in the radio soap, ''The Archers'', are quoted by

Greg Dyke Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...

in his McTaggart Lecture of 2000.

References

External links

His BBC Guide to Comedy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitts, Denis English male journalists 1930 births 1994 deaths