Joy Angela Swift

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(born 2 October 1956) is a businesswoman, writer and events organiser from Liverpool, who is best known as the inventor of the murder mystery weekend.

Early life and family background

Swift was born in Blundellsands, Liverpool, to Norman and Thelma (née Lake), Swift is the youngest of three children. Her father Norman was the fourth generation to run the family owned timber merchants business.

Career

Swift went to college to study graphic design but she left to take up full-time employment at the

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liverp ...

. Swift left three years later to join a small chain of hotels.

Murder mystery weekend

In 1981, she came up with the idea of an interactive murder mystery that would allow hotel guests to become sleuths. Swift hired local actors to play the main characters and on 30 October 1981, she staged her first murder mystery weekend. In 1983, Swift staged her first murder mystery weekend outside of the UK in New York. In 1989,

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', '' Give Us a Clue'', ''This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...

hosted a televised interactive murder mystery set at a wedding called Murder Weekend, devised and written by Swift, which invited viewers to solve a whodunnit to win a prize. The five episodes were entitled Dream Of Monks A-Coughing: A Funeral's In The Offing, Dream Of Gulls A-Screeching: Heed The Parson's Preaching, Dream Of Toms A-Snarling: A Quarrel With Your Darling, Dream Of Vipers Hissing: Your Favourite Dog's Gone Missing and Dream Of Yaks A-Mooing: Sign Of Your Undoing and were broadcast over three nights on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

from August 18 to 20. The cast included and David Delve, Eric Allen, John Hudson and

Jason Salkey Jason Salkey (born 24 April 1962) is an English actor, best known for playing Harris, the "educated rifleman", in the television series '' Sharpe''. Salkey has also published a book and video diaries about working in ''Sharpe'' alongside Sean Be ...

. In April 2007, Swift published her first paperback, ''The Joy Of Murder''. The book included a biography of Swift, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and a solvable whodunnit. In October the same year, Swift travelled to Egypt to stage four week-long murder mystery cruises billed as ''Death On The Nile''. In November 2007 as part of Liverpool's 800th birthday celebrations, Swift created a solvable whodunnit for her local newspaper entitled ''The Great Echo Murder Mystery''. She wrote an historical plot that was printed each day as a two-page police evidence board of clues. Readers submitted their solutions in writing and 10 winners attended the denouement, where the murderer was revealed. In May 2011, Litmus Films produced a six-minute segment for Japan's national broadcaster

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

about Swift and her murder mystery weekends. Two years later, Swift wrote and co-directed a 90-minute interactive murder mystery for NHK, which screened on the channel over three nights. Viewers attempted to solve a whodunnit at the same time as three studio experts. In 2020 during the global Covid-19 pandemic, Swift created a unique realistic online whodunnit for sleuths around the world,
Murder Mystery Investigation
'. The first online game was launched, titled ''Cold Case #1 - Lockdown''. In 2021 the second online game was released, titled ''Cold Case #2 - Family Ties''.

Awards and nominations

In the 2001 New Year Honours, Swift was appointed a member of the

Member of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) for services to tourism as the inventor of the murder mystery weekend. She collected her MBE from

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

at an investiture on 2 May 2002. In 2006, Swift collected a Prestige Award for Excellence in Tourism and Leisure Services at a ceremony hosted by Sefton Chamber of Commerce. At the inaugural Independent Travel Awards, announced on 25 September 2015, Swift was nominated for the Reader’s Choice Award with

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

Patrick Leigh Fermor Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greates ...

and

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries. Palin w ...

. In 2016, Murder Weekends were nominated for Best Special Interest Holiday Company in the Daily Mirror Travel Awards. In 2021 Joy Swift's Origina
Murder Mystery Investigations
''Cold Case #1 - Lockdown'' was a finalist and ''Cold Case #2 - Family Ties'' won Gold at th
EscapeTheRoomers
Player Choice Awards for Online Games

References

External links

''Murder Mystery Investigation''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Joy 1956 births Living people Businesspeople from Merseyside People from Crosby, Merseyside British women in business Members of the Order of the British Empire British women writers British crime fiction writers British entertainers