Leonard Malcolm Saville (21 February 1901–30 June 1982)
Retrieved 16 July 2016 was an English writer best known for the '' Lone Pine'' series of children's books, many of which are set in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. His work emphasises location; the books include many vivid descriptions of English countryside, villages and sometimes towns.

Early life and career

He was born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, and was educated at Richmond Hill School, in

Richmond, Surrey Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

. His working life began at

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 1918,The Author, ''Witchend.com''
Retrieved 16 July 2016 then continued as a publicist with

Cassell & Co Cassell & Co is a British book publishing house, founded in 1848 by John Cassell (1817–1865), which became in the 1890s an international publishing group company. In 1995, Cassell & Co acquired Pinter Publishers. In December 1998, Cassell & ...

(1920–1922),

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(1922–1936), and

George Newnes Ltd George Newnes Ltd is a British publisher. The company was founded in 1891 by George Newnes (1851–1910), considered a founding father of popular journalism. Newnes published such magazines and periodicals as ''Tit-Bits'', ''The Wide World Magazi ...

(1936–1941). He was also the associate editor of ''My Garden'' magazine, before taking over editorship of '' Sunny Stories'' from

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have be ...

in 1954, when she left to set up her own magazine in direct competition. Saville's writing career, from 1943 to 1982, was initially a diversion from his working life. His first book, ''Mystery at Witchend'', was set in Shropshire and was written when his children had been evacuated to the county from the family home in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. It was adapted for

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

broadcast in 1943, and was followed by a further 19 children's books in the ''Lone Pine'' series, the last one published in 1978. Several of his 90 books were serialised for broadcast on radio, many on ''

Children's Hour ''Children's Hour'', initially ''The Children's Hour'', was the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting. ''Childre ...

'', and his 1953 book ''The Ambermere Treasure'', part of the Jillies series, was serialised by

Associated-Rediffusion Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...

, the first commercial television company to broadcast in the United Kingdom, in late 1955 and early 1956; it was therefore one of the first

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 ...

children's drama series. Saville also wrote many short stories and magazine articles.

Personal life

His marriage to Dorothy (née McCoy) in 1926 produced four children. Saville had strong moral convictions, and was a practising

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. He died in Hastings in 1982, aged 81.

Book list

All dates in the list below refer to the first date of publication. Some of the earlier titles were reissued in revised editions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some of the books were translated into Dutch.

Lone Pine series

* ''Mystery at Witchend'' (1943) * ''Seven White Gates'' (1944) * ''The Gay Dolphin Adventure'' (1945) * ''The Secret of Grey Walls'' (1947) * ''Lone Pine Five'' (1949) * ''The Elusive Grasshopper'' (1951) * ''The Neglected Mountain'' (1953) * ''Saucers Over The Moor'' (1955) * ''Wings Over Witchend'' (1956) * ''Lone Pine London'' (1957) * ''The Secret of the Gorge'' (1958) * ''Mystery Mine'' (1959) * ''Sea Witch Comes Home'' (1960) * ''Not Scarlet But Gold'' (1962) * ''Treasure at Amorys'' (1964) * ''Man With Three Fingers'' (1966) * ''Rye Royal'' (1969) * ''Strangers at Witchend'' (1970) * ''Where's My Girl?'' (1972) * ''Home To Witchend'' (1978)

Buckingham series

* ''The Master of Maryknoll'' (1950) * ''The Buckinghams at Ravenswyke'' (1952) * ''The Long Passage'' (1954) * ''A Palace for the Buckinghams'' (1963) * ''The Secret of the Villa Rosa'' (1971) * ''Diamond in the Sky'' (1974)

Jillies series

* ''Redshank's Warning'' (1948) * ''Two Fair Plaits'' (1948); reprinted as ''Secret in the Mist'' in 1952, but reverted to its original title for subsequent editions. * ''Strangers at Snowfell'' (1949) * ''The Sign of the Alpine Rose'' (1950) * ''The Luck of Sallowby'' (1952) * ''The Ambermere Treasure'' (1953)

Nettleford series

* ''All Summer Through'' (1951) * ''Christmas at Nettleford'' (1953) * ''Spring Comes To Nettleford'' (1954) * ''The Secret of Buzzard Scar'' (1955)

Marston Baines series

* ''Three Towers in Tuscany'' (1963) * ''The Purple Valley'' (1964) * ''Dark Danger'' (1965) * ''White Fire'' (1966) * ''Power of Three'' (1968) * ''The Dagger and the Flame'' (1970) * ''Marston – Master Spy'' (1978)

Susan and Bill series

* ''Susan, Bill and the Wolf Dog'' (1954) * ''Susan, Bill and the Ivy-Clad Oak'' (1954) * ''Susan, Bill and the Vanishing Boy'' (1955) * ''Susan, Bill and the Golden Clock'' (1955) * ''Susan, Bill and the 'Saucy Kate (1956) * ''Susan, Bill and the Dark Stranger'' (1956) * ''Susan, Bill and the Bright Star Circus'' (1960) * ''Susan, Bill and the Pirates Bold'' (1961)

Michael and Mary series

* ''Trouble at Townsend'' (1945) – when it was first published, this book was filmed by the

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribu ...

starring a young

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

. * ''The Riddle of the Painted Box'' (1947) * ''The Flying Fish Adventure'' (1950) * ''The Secret of the Hidden Pool'' (1953) * ''Where The Bus Stopped'' (1955) – actually a short story which was published as a book in its own right, although it also appeared in anthologies. * ''Young Johnnie Bimbo'' (1956) * ''The Fourth Key'' (1957)

Brown Family series

* ''Four And Twenty Blackbirds'' (1959) – retitled ''The Secret of Galleybird Pit'' in editions published after 1967. * ''Good Dog Dandy'' (1971) * ''The Roman Treasure Mystery'' (1973)

Other fiction books

* ''Treasure at the Mill'' (1957) * ''The Thin Grey Man'' (1966)

Travel books

* ''Come to London'' (1967) * ''Come to Devon'' (1969) * ''Come to Cornwall'' (1969) * ''Come to Somerset'' (1970) * ''Portrait of Rye'' (1976) * ''The Silent Hills of Shropshire'' (1998)

Nature and countryside books

* ''Country Scrapbook for Boys and Girls'' (1944) * ''Open Air Scrapbook for Boys and Girls'' (1945) * ''Seaside Scrapbook for Boys and Girls'' (1946) * ''Jane's Country Year'' (1946) * ''Small Creatures'' (1959) * ''Malcolm Saville's Country Book'' (1961) – an updated revision and expansion of the ''Country Scrapbook'' and ''Open Air Scrapbook''. * ''Malcolm Saville's Seaside Book'' (1962) – a similar updated revision and expansion of the ''Seaside Scrapbook''. * ''See How It Grows'' (1971) * ''Eat What You Grow'' (1975) * ''The Countryside Quiz'' (1978) * ''The Wonder Why Book of Exploring a Wood'' (1978) * ''The Wonder Why Book of Exploring the Seashore'' (1979) * ''The Wonder Why Book of Wild Flowers Through the Year'' (1980) * ''The Seashore Quiz'' (1981)

Religious books

* ''King of Kings'' (1958) * ''Strange Story'' (1967)

Other non-fiction

* ''The Adventure of the Lifeboat Service'' (1950) * ''The Coronation Gift Book for Boys and Girls'' (1952) – Although written for children to enable them to understand the process of

Queen Elizabeth II's coronation The coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being Proclamati ...

, the book was informative enough for it to be read by adults as well. * ''The Story of

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. Th ...

Church'' (1978) Saville also edited ''Words For All Seasons'', a poetry anthology first published in 1979. He began a book on the

countryside he loved, ''The Silent Hills of Shropshire'', but died before he could finish it; it was completed by Mark O'Hanlon and published in 1998. Mark O'Hanlon's biography of Saville, ''Beyond the Lone Pine'' which was published to coincide with the centenary of Saville's birth in 2001, is also now out of print. Another book by Mark O'Hanlon called ''The Complete Lone Pine'' – a guide to the entire series – was published in 1996 and was reprinted in an extended hardback edition in 2005.

References

External links

The Malcolm Saville Society

Malcolm Saville Online

An index of his books

''Telegraph'' article, 2002, on Saville's legacy Watson, Victor (2001). ''The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English'' Cambridge University Press 627–628 {{DEFAULTSORT:Saville, Leonard Malcolm 1901 births 1982 deaths English children's writers People from Hastings English Christians 20th-century English novelists