Edmund Piers Barclay (2 May 1898 – 26 August 1961) was an English-Australian writer known for his work in

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

. Radio historian Richard Lane called him "Australian radio's first great writer and, many would say, Australian radio's greatest playwright ever."Richard Lane, ''The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama 1923-1960'', Melbourne University Press, 1994, p. 27

Biography

Barclay claimed to have been born on 2 May 1898 at

Dinapore Danapur is a Indian satellite town and one of the 6 sub-divisions (Tehsil) in Patna district of Bihar state.Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, England. He also maintained that he was educated at Stonyhurst College, joined the Middlesex Regiment on 11 August 1914, and won the Military Cross and Croix de Guerre while serving with the Royal Flying Corps. However, there is no record of anyone with the surname Barclay or Compston-Buckleigh having attended Stonyhurst or served with the Royal Flying Corps. He claimed that after WWI he worked as a journalist in Fleet Street, London, until sacked for costing his employers £2000 in a libel suit; he then reputedly ran his own short-lived, weekly newspaper.Edmund Piers Barclay profile at the ''Australian Dictionary of Biography''
/ref> Arriving in Australia in August 1926, he was determined to show the world that "he was the world's greatest novelist". He worked as a journalist, wrote film scripts (''

The Silence of Dean Maitland ''The Silence of Dean Maitland'' is an 1886 novel by Maxwell Gray (the pen name of Mary Gleed Tuttiett). Set in a fictionalized Isle of Wight, particularly around Calbourne, it concerns an ambitious clergyman who accidentally kills the father ...

'', 1934), short stories, plays, newspaper articles and verse. On 17 December 1933 he was employed by the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owned ...

as a dramatist. The first radio play Barclay wrote was ''An Antarctic Epic''. Barclay wrote very little for the stage. In 1934 he collaborated with

Varney Monk Varney Monk (born Isabel Varney Desmond Peterson; 18 January 1892 – 7 February 1967) was an Australian pianist and composer, best known for writing the musicals '' Collits' Inn'' (1932) and '' The Cedar Tree'' (1934). ''Collits' Inn'' was desc ...

as composer to write ''

The Cedar Tree ''The Cedar Tree'' was a television serial that ran from 1976 to 1979 on ITV in the United Kingdom. It involved the story of the upper class Bourne family before the turn of the Second World War. The main setting is Larkfield Manor, the famil ...

'', a musical romance produced by F. W. Thring in Melbourne. Barclay's wife Helene was the lyricist.

Family

His relationship with his wife Helene, who wrote plays for the ABC, was desperately unhappy. Survived by his daughter and son, Barclay died of a coronary occlusion on 26 August 1961 at

Gosford, New South Wales Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extr ...

. He was interred in Point Clare cemetery with Catholic rites.

Selected credits

*''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight ...

'' (1934) - radio version of the famous story *''Return of the Three Musketeers'' (1934) - radio play *''An Antarctic Epic : The Story of Captain Scott's Tragic Journey to the South Pole'' (1934) - radio play *''

'' (1934) - co-screenplay *''

'' (1935) - book of musical *''Lawrence of Arabia'' (1935) - radio play *''Khyber'' (1935) - radio play - starred

James Raglan James Raglan (6 January 1901 – 15 November 1961) was a British stage, film and television actor. In Australia Early in 1935 he was brought out to Australia with the Gabriel Toyne company by J. C. Williamson, playing '' Laburnum Grove'' an ...

*'' A Cavalcade of Australian History'' (1935) - radio play *''Khyber and Beyond'' (1936) - radio play, sequel to ''Khyber'' *''Khyber'' (1936) - novel, based on his 1935 radio play *''Shanghai'' (1936) - radio play *''Dead or Alive'' (1936) - radio play *''

Lovers and Luggers ''Lovers and Luggers'' is a 1937 Australian film directed by Ken G. Hall. It is an adventure melodrama about a pianist ( Lloyd Hughes) who goes to Thursday Island to retrieve a valuable pearl. It was retitled ''Vengeance of the Deep'' in the US a ...

'' (1937) - co-screenplay *''Shanghai'' (1937) - novel, based on his radio play *''Murder in the Silo'' (1937) - radio play *''Neath Southern Skies'' (1938) - radio play *'' As Ye Sow : An Australian Saga'' (1937–38) - radio play *''Into the Light'' (1938) - radio play *''The Girl with the Tattered Glove'' (1938) - radio play *''Singapore Spy'' (1939) - radio play *''Valley of the Sky'' (1939) - radio play *''Madame Curie'' (1939) - radio play - starred Peter Finch *''With Wings as Eagles'' (1943) - radio play (co-written with Joy Hollyer) *''The Bolero Murder'' (1940s) - radio play *''The Man Who Liked Eclairs'' (1940s) - radio play *''

The Fortunes of Richard Mahony ''The Fortunes of Richard Mahony'' is a three-part novel by Australian writer Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson under her pen name, Henry Handel Richardson. It consists of ''Australia Felix'' (1917), ''The Way Home'' (1925), and ''Ultima Thule' ...

'' (1950) radio play, adapting the novel

References

External links

*
Edmund Barclay profile at the National Library of Australia

Edmund Barclay Australian theatre credits at AusstageEdmund Barclay
at Austlit (subscription required)
Edmund Barclay papers at the State Library of New South Wales
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barclay, Edmund Piers 1898 births 1961 deaths Australian radio producers Australian radio writers Australian screenwriters 20th-century Australian screenwriters British people in colonial India British emigrants to Australia