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Kenneth Horne (28 April 1900 – 5 June 1975) was an English writer and playwright. Born in Westminster, London, he was active between 1933 and 1970, and his works included ''A Lass and a Lackey'', ''Fools Rush In'', ''Trial and Error'', ''Public Mischief'' and ''The Coming-Out Party'', as well as film scripts. (He should not be confused with popular radio comedian
Kenneth Horne Charles Kenneth Horne, generally known as Kenneth Horne, (27 February 1907 – 14 February 1969) was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh ...
of a similar age-group.)


Biography

Kenneth Horne was born in
Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
,
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, on 28 April 1900. He read many works by
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
, and later the two men shared the same manager. During the Second World War, Horne worked in the
Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
. Horne was married twice and had three sons, antiquities dealer Jonathan Horne, who was born on 13 November 1940 in Cornwall, Christopher, and Nicolas; Horne also had a daughter, Judith. He spent some time living in
Croydon, Surrey Croydon is a large town in South London, south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts i ...
. Horne's first play to be performed in the
West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...
was in 1934. In 1940 Horne wrote ''The Good Young Man'', about a missionary's son from
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
who goes to England to visit his family and find a wife. This was followed in 1941 with '' Love In A Mist'', about a secretary and her boss' son who go on a weekend in
Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath. ...
, only for the secretary to attempt to escape from her date. Horne's last play to be performed at the West End, ''A Public Mischief'', ran in
St Martin's Theatre St Martin's Theatre is a West End theatre which has staged the production of ''The Mousetrap'' since March 1974, making it the longest continuous run of any show in the world. The theatre is located in West Street, near Shaftesbury Avenue, in t ...
in 1965. The play was about a woman who elopes with her lover while making her escape appear to be a boating accident. Though it received poor reviews, this play was later adapted to television. Horne's last play, ''The Coming Out Party'', was performed in
Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...
in 1970. Horne made his film debut as a screenwriter in 1938's '' Almost a Honeymoon'', adapting the farce of the same name by Walter Ellis. He wrote three further screenplays or scripts: ''Two Dozen Red Roses'', a 1952
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 exam. ...
...
television adaption from a work by Italian screenwriter
Aldo de Benedetti Aldo De Benedetti (13 August 1892 – 19 January 1970) was an Italian screenwriter. He wrote for more than 110 films between 1920 and 1958. He was born and died in Rome, Italy. Selected filmography * '' Marco Visconti'' (1925) * ''What Sco ...
; '' Aunt Clara'' in 1954, and ''On the Bridon Beat'' in 1964. Horne also recorded voice commentary, sometimes as a narrator, for several films and shorts, including in ''The Fibre Web'' (1963), ''The Story of Moses'' (1964), and ''Down Boy!'' (1964). He managed the dialogue for '' Fools Rush In'', a 1949 comedy directed by
John Paddy Carstairs John Paddy Carstairs (born John Keys; 11 May 1910, in London – 12 December 1970, in London) was a British film director (1933–62) and television director (1962–64), usually of light-hearted subject matter. He was also a comic novelist and ...
. Horne died of cancer on 5 June 1975.


Themes

Horne's work often dealt with conflicting 19th and 20th century values, as well as the opposition of instinct and morality. As with his contemporary,
Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...
, Horne challenged traditional speech patterns in British comedies, though where Coward's characters remain outrageous, Horne's ultimately return to what is expected from society. Many of Horne's plays feature young, often virginal women who, in their burgeoning sexuality, "offer themselves up, with some degree of apprehension, for ravishment." Actor George Cole, who appeared in the West Side run of ''A Public Mischief'', wrote of Horne's style: "Kenneth Horne's scripts were always carefully crafted to let the humour come naturally without being forced. He insisted that, in order to work properly, comedy should always be played straight".


Legacy

Horne's grandson, the English writer
Robert Farrar Robert Farrar (born 1960) is a British writer and musician. Biography Farrar was born in London 1960. The grandson of playwright Kenneth Horne through his mother, Judith, Farrar read the older man's oeuvre while still a teenager. This inspir ...
, describes Horne as
"school-of-Moliere, a pleaser, an artist of the depression and the war years whose brief was to make an audience feel safe and loved. You could put on your nicest clothes, turn up at the theatre and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were going to have good time."


Partial bibliography

The following list is derived from Horne's published work, as catalogued at
WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...
. * * * * * * (adapted from a work by
Aldo De Benedetti Aldo De Benedetti (13 August 1892 – 19 January 1970) was an Italian screenwriter. He wrote for more than 110 films between 1920 and 1958. He was born and died in Rome, Italy. Selected filmography * '' Marco Visconti'' (1925) * ''What Sco ...
) * ( filmed in 1958) * (also known as ''Wasn't It Odd?'') * * * * * *


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horne, Kenneth (writer) English writers People from Westminster 1900 births 1975 deaths