John Bowen (British Author)

John Griffith Bowen (5 November 1924 – 18 April 2019) was a British playwright and novelist.

Early life

John Bowen was born in Calcutta, India, to Ethel (née Cook) and Hugh Bowen; his father was the manager of the Shalimar Print Works in Gobariah. John Bowen's grandfather was an Inspector of Police in Calcutta. At the age of five and a half he was placed on a boat in Bombay and sent back to Britain where he was brought up by his uncle Donald and aunt Dolly in Whitehaven. Bowen was sent to board at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Crediton in Devon, where he developed an interest in literature and drama.

In 1939, his mother returned to England with her three younger children, Patricia (b. 1926) and twins Daphne and David (b. 1930), and rented a house near Crediton. In 1940, having read about the bombing of Britain in ''The Times of India'', Bowen's father sent a cable to his wife saying "Bring the children out", though no bombs had fallen in or near Crediton. The whole family returned to India, where Bowen spent an unhappy year living in the YMCA in Calcutta and working in a semi-clerical job. Eventually he told his father that when the war was over, he wanted to go to university at either Oxford or Cambridge, and that he had better acquire some sort of qualification. So, in 1941 he left his job and went to study at the Jesuit-run North Point College in Darjeeling, where he was awarded the Intermediate Arts degree of the University of Calcutta.

At the age of 18, much to his chagrin, he was drafted into the army, and during the latter part of World War II, served as a captain in the Mahratta Light Infantry until 1947, serving as a Railway Transport Officer in transhipment stations in Bengal.

In 1948, he returned to Britain to study at the University of Oxford (at Pembroke College and St Antony's College), where he gained an MA in modern history, and edited the university magazine, ''Isis''. After graduating, Bowen won a Fulbright Scholarship and spent a year teaching and hitch-hiking through the USA.

Writing career

Advertising and early theatre work

Bowen returned to Britain in 1953, moved to London and spent three years as an assistant editor on ''The Sketch'' magazine. He then turned to advertising, and while working at J. Walter Thompson (1956–58), he was part of the team that launched the successful marketing campaign for Rowntree's "Have a break, have a Kit-Kat", which is still used to advertise the product. It was during this period that he wrote his first three novels, two of which were published by Faber & Faber: ''The Truth Will Not Help Us'' (1956) is about a political witch-hunt; ''After the Rain'' (1958, later adapted for the stage) is set in the future and following a group of people attempting to survive a flood; and ''The Centre of the Green'' (1959) focuses on a family torn apart by their son's marital infidelity. ''After the Rain'' was performed at the Duchess Theatre in London and the John Golden Theatre on Broadway in 1967, starring Alec McCowen in the lead role.

1960s and 70s television heyday

In 1960, after leaving the comfort of the full-time job, Bowen and fellow advertising copywriter Jeremy Bullmore began writing together using the joint pseudonym of Justin Blake. Their character, Garry Halliday was picked up by the BBC
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