Jack Ronder was a Scottish dramatist, screenwriter and author who in the 1950s and 1960s was known for his socially acute plays before becoming a TV screenwriter. He is remembered for his work on Terry Nation's seminal

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

post-apocalyptic series, Survivors, which was listed by

SFX SFX may refer to: Entertainment * Special effects (usually visual), illusions used in film, television, and entertainment * Sound effects, sounds that are artificially created or enhanced * SFX (magazine), ''SFX'' (magazine), a British magazine c ...

magazine as one of the 'Top 50 British Telefantasy Shows'.

Life

Jack Tobias Ronder was the grandson of

Lithuanian Jews Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas ...

who fled their homeland in 1885 due to persecution in

Tsarist Russia Tsarist Russia may refer to: * Grand Duchy of Moscow (1480–1547) *Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721) *Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of ...

. Believing themselves to have bought tickets to America, the family were made to disembark in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, Scotland where they settled and he was born. Their story inspired Ronder's first book and a

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

series, The Lost Tribe, the story of the establishment of Jewish community in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. Ronder initially studied chemistry at

Heriot-Watt College Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

, Edinburgh, where he involved himself in a number of productions with the Edinburgh University Drama Society and Edinburgh Graduates Theatre Group, going on to become a chemistry teacher before a full-time writer. In 1961, he had his first West End play produced, called 'This Year, Next Year', at the

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each ...

. He went on to write the first one man play for

Russell Hunter Adam Russell Hunter (18 February 1925 – 26 February 2004) was a Scottish television, stage and film actor. He played Lonely in the TV thriller series ''Callan'', starring Edward Woodward, and shop steward Harry in the Yorkshire Television si ...

, one of Scotland's most talented and versatile actors, called Cocky, about

Lord Cockburn Henry Thomas Cockburn of Bonaly, Lord Cockburn ( ; Cockpen, Midlothian, 26 October 1779 – Bonaly, Midlothian, 26 April/18 July 1854) was a Scottish lawyer, judge and literary figure. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 1830 an ...

in 1969. He was a member of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain's committee

Ronder married Scottish artist Anne Christie, and had three children, one of whom is actress and playwright Tanya Ronder.

Works

Books

* '' The Lost Tribe (Ronder book), The Lost Tribe'' (1978)

TV Series

* ''The Lost Tribe'' (1980) * ''

Scene Scene (from Ancient Greek, Greek σκηνή ''skēnḗ'') may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Scene (subculture), a youth subculture from the early 2000s characterized by a distinct music and style. Groups and performers * The S ...

'' (1980) * ''Going to Work'' (1978–1979) * ''Scottish Playbill'' (1970) * ''The Day After Yesterday'' (1979) * '' Space: 1999'' (1976) * ''Hunter's Walk'' (1976) * '' Survivors'' (1975–1976) * ''

Z Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted ...

'' (1975) * '' Barlow'' (1974–1975) * ''

John Halifax, Gentleman ''John Halifax, Gentleman'' is a novel by Dinah Craik, first published in 1856. The novel was adapted for BBC Radio 4 in 1970 and on television on BBC in 1974. Plot summary The action is centred on the town of Tewkesbury, scarcely disguised b ...

'' (1974) * '' Hadleigh'' (1973) * ''

The Regiment The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...

'' (1973) * ''Late Night Theatre'' (1972) * '' The Lotus Eaters'' (1972) * ''ITV Sunday Night Theatre'' (1972) * ''A Summer Story'' (1972) * ''

A Family at War ''A Family At War'' is a British drama Television program, series that aired on ITV (TV network), ITV from 1970 to 1972. It was created by John Finch and made by ITV Granada, Granada Television for ITV. The original producer was Richard Doubled ...

'' (1971) * ''

Dr. Finlay's Casebook ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'' is a television drama series that was produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1962 until 1971. Based on A. J. Cronin's 1935 novella ''Country Doctor'', the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fictiona ...

'' (1969) * '' The Borderers'' (1969) * '' This Man Craig'' (1966–1967)

Plays

* ''The Sinner's Tale'' (1971) * ''Confessions of a Justified Sinner'' (1971) * ''Who'll Do It This Time?'' (1969) * ''This Year, Next Year'' (1961) * ''Cocky'' (1960) * ''Wedding Day'' (1959) * ''The Daughter of the Dawn'' (195

* ''Who Loves Morag?'' (1954) * ''Maria Marten (or Murder in the Red Barn)'' (1954) * ''Philotus'' (1953) * ''A Heavenly Sound: A Comedy in Three Acts'' (1950)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ronder, Jack 20th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights Scottish male writers 1926 births 1979 deaths Alumni of Heriot-Watt University