Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 189912 January 1960) was an English novelist and
aeronautical engineer
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...
who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from inferences by his employers (Vickers) or from fellow engineers that he was '"not a serious person" or from potentially adverse publicity in connection with his novels, which included ''
On the Beach'' and ''
A Town Like Alice
''A Town Like Alice'' (United States title: ''The Legacy'') is a romance novel by Nevil Shute, published in 1950 when Shute had newly settled in Australia. Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman, becomes romantically interested in a fellow prisoner ...
''.
Early life
Shute was born in Somerset Road,
Ealing
Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.
Ealing was histor ...
(which was then in
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
), in the house described in his novel ''
Trustee from the Toolroom''. He was educated at the
Dragon School
("Reach for the Sun")
, established = 1877
, closed =
, type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school
, religion = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Head
, head = Emma Goldsm ...
,
Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury.
Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into ...
and
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
; he graduated from Oxford in 1922 with a third-class degree in engineering science.
Shute's father, Arthur Hamilton Norway, became head of the Post Office in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
before the First World War and was based at the
General Post Office, Dublin
The General Post Office (GPO; ga, Ard-Oifig an Phoist) is the headquarters of An Post — the Irish Post Office. It is the principal post office of Dublin — the capital city of Ireland — and is situated in the centre of O'Connell Street, t ...
in 1916 at the time of the
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirà Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...
. Shute himself was later commended for his role as a stretcher-bearer during the rising.
Shute attended the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...
, and trained as a gunner. He was unable to take up a commission in the
Royal Flying Corps
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colors =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries =
, decorations ...
in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, which he believed was because of his stammer. He served as a soldier in the
Suffolk Regiment
The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, before bein ...
, enlisting in the ranks in August 1918. He guarded the
Isle of Grain
Isle of Grain (Old English ''Greon'', meaning gravel) is a village and the easternmost point of the Hoo Peninsula within the district of Medway in Kent, south-east England. No longer an island and now forming part of the peninsula, the area i ...
in the Thames Estuary, and served in military funeral parties in Kent during the
1918 flu pandemic
The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
.
Career in aviation
An
aeronautical engineer
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...
as well as a pilot, Shute began his engineering career with the
de Havilland Aircraft Company
The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...
. He used his pen-name as an author to protect his engineering career from any potentially adverse publicity in connection with his novels.
Dissatisfied with the lack of opportunities for advancement, he took a position in 1924 with
Vickers Ltd., where he was involved with the development of
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
s, working as Chief Calculator (
stress engineer) on the
R100
His Majesty's Airship R100 was a privately designed and built British rigid airship made as part of a two-ship competition to develop a commercial airship service for use on British Empire routes as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme. The ot ...
airship project for the Vickers subsidiary Airship Guarantee Company. In 1929, he was promoted to deputy
chief engineer
A chief engineer, commonly referred to as "ChEng" or "Chief", is the most senior engine officer of an engine department on a ship, typically a merchant ship, and holds overall leadership and the responsibility of that department..Chief engineer ...
of the R100 project under
Barnes Wallis. When Wallis left the project, Shute became the chief engineer.
The R100 was a prototype for passenger-carrying airships that would serve the needs of Britain's empire. The government-funded but privately developed R100 made a successful 1930 round trip to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. While in Canada it made trips from
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
to
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
, Toronto, and
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...
. The fatal 1930 crash near
Beauvais
Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris.
The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...
, France, of its government-developed counterpart
R101
R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airships completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Mi ...
ended British interest in
dirigibles
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early d ...
. The R100 was immediately grounded and subsequently scrapped.
Shute gives a detailed account of the development of the two airships in his 1954
autobiographical
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
work, ''
Slide Rule
The slide rule is a mechanical analog computer which is used primarily for multiplication and division, and for functions such as exponents, roots, logarithms, and trigonometry. It is not typically designed for addition or subtraction, which is ...
''. When he started, he wrote that he was shocked to find that before building the R38 the civil servants concerned '"had made no attempt to calculate the aerodynamic forces acting on the ship"' but had just copied the size of girders in German airships. The calculations for just one transverse frame of the R100 could take two or three months, and the solution '"almost amounted to a religious experience." But later he wrote that '"the disaster was the product of the system rather than the men at Cardington"; the one thing that was proved is that "government officials are totally ineffective in engineering development" and any weapons (they develop) will be bad weapons. The R101 made one short test flight in perfect weather, and was given an airworthiness certificate for her flight to India to meet the minister’s deadline. Norway thought it probable that a new outer cover for the R101 was taped on with rubber adhesive which reacted with the dope. His account is very critical of the R101 design and management team, and strongly hints that senior team members were complicit in concealing flaws in the airship's design and construction. In ''The Tender Ship,''
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
engineer and
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...
professor
Arthur Squires
Arthur M. Squires (21 March 1916–18 May 2012) was a chemical engineer and member of the Manhattan Project. He was later on the chemical engineering faculties of the City College of New York and Virginia Tech, where he was professor.
He was a ...
used Shute's account of the R100 and R101 as a primary illustration of his thesis that governments are usually incompetent managers of technology projects.
In 1931, with the cancellation of the R100 project, Shute teamed up with the talented de Havilland-trained designer
A. Hessell Tiltman to found the aircraft construction company
Airspeed Ltd
Airspeed Limited was established in 1931 to build aeroplanes in York, England, by A. H. Tiltman and Nevil Shute Norway (the aeronautical engineer and novelist, who used his forenames as his pen-name). The other directors were A. E. Hewitt, ...
.
A site was available in a former
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
garage on Piccadilly,
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
. Despite setbacks, including the usual problems of a new business, Airspeed Limited eventually gained recognition when its
Envoy
Envoy or Envoys may refer to:
Diplomacy
* Diplomacy, in general
* Envoy (title)
* Special envoy, a type of diplomatic rank
Brands
*Airspeed Envoy, a 1930s British light transport aircraft
*Envoy (automobile), an automobile brand used to sell Br ...
aircraft was chosen for the
King's Flight. With the approach of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, a military version of the Envoy was developed, to be called the
Airspeed Oxford
The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Seco ...
. The Oxford became the standard advanced multi-engined trainer for the
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
and British Commonwealth, with over 8,500 being built.
For the innovation of developing a hydraulic retractable undercarriage for the
Airspeed Courier, and his work on R100, Shute was made a Fellow of the
Royal Aeronautical Society
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows ...
.
On 7 March 1931, Shute married Frances Mary Heaton, a 28-year-old medical practitioner. They had two daughters, (Heather) Felicity and Shirley.
Second World War
By the outbreak of the Second World War, Shute was a rising novelist. Even as war seemed imminent he was working on military projects with his former boss at Vickers,
Sir Dennistoun Burney. He was commissioned into the
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) as a sub-lieutenant, having joined as an 'elderly yachtsman' and expected to be in charge of a drifter or minesweeper, but after two days he was asked about his career and technical experience. He reached the "dizzy rank" of lieutenant-commander, knowing nothing about "Sunday Divisions" and secretly fearing when he went on a little ship that he would be the senior naval officer and "have to do something".
So he ended up in the
Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development
Directorate may refer to:
Contemporary
*Directorates of the Scottish Government
* Directorate-General, a type of specialised administrative body in the European Union
* Directorate-General for External Security, the French external intelligence a ...
. There he was a head of engineering, working on secret weapons such as
Panjandrum
Panjandrum, also known as The Great Panjandrum, was a massive, rocket-propelled, explosive-laden cart designed by the British military during World War II. It was one of a number of highly experimental projects, including Hajile and the Hedgehog ...
, a job that appealed to the engineer in him. He also developed the
Rocket Spear, an anti-submarine missile with a fluted cast iron head. After the first U-boat was sunk by it,
Charles Goodeve
Sir Charles Frederick Goodeve (21 February 1904 – 7 April 1980) was a Canadian chemist and pioneer in operations research. During World War II, he was instrumental in developing the "hedgehog" antisubmarine warfare weapon and the degaussing m ...
sent him a message concluding "I am particularly pleased as it fully substantiates the foresight you showed in pushing this in its early stages. My congratulations."
His celebrity as a writer caused the
Ministry of Information to send him to the
Normandy Landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
on 6 June 1944 and later to
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
as a correspondent. He finished the war with the rank of lieutenant commander in the RNVR.
Literary career
Shute's first novel, ''
Stephen Morris'', was written in 1923, but not published until 1961 (with its 1924 sequel, ''Pilotage'').
His first published novel was ''
Marazan'', which came out in 1926. After that he averaged one novel every two years through the 1950s, with the exception of a six-year hiatus while he was establishing his own aircraft construction company, Airspeed Ltd. Sales of his books grew slowly with each novel, but he became much better known after the publication of his third to last book, ''
On the Beach'', in 1957.
Shute's novels are written in a simple, highly readable style, with clearly delineated plot lines. Where there is a romantic element, sex is referred to only obliquely. Many of the stories are introduced by a narrator who is not a character in the story. The most common theme in Shute's novels is the
dignity of work
The dignity of labour is the philosophy that all types of jobs are respected equally, and no occupation is considered superior and none of the jobs should be discriminated on any basis. Regardless of whether one's occupation involves physical wor ...
, spanning all classes, whether a Spanish bar hostess in the Balkans (''
Ruined City
''Ruined City'' is a 1938 novel by Nevil Shute, published by Cassell in the UK. In the US, the book was published by William Morrow under the title ''Kindling''.
Plot summary
The story is set in the Depression years of the 1930s, when a rich L ...
'') or brilliant
boffin
Boffin is a British slang term for a scientist, engineer, or other person engaged in technical or scientific research and development. A "boffin" was viewed by some in the regular services as odd, quirky or peculiar, though quite bright and es ...
(''
No Highway
No (and variant writings) may refer to one of these articles:
English language
* ''Yes'' and ''no'' (responses)
* A determiner in noun phrases
Alphanumeric symbols
* No (kana), a letter/syllable in Japanese script
* No symbol, displayed 🚠...
''). His books are in three main clusters, early pre-war flying adventures; Second World War; and Australia.
Another recurrent theme is the bridging of social barriers such as class (''
Lonely Road'' and ''Landfall''), race (''
The Chequer Board''), or religion (''
Round the Bend
''Round the Bend!'' is a satirical British children's television series, which ran on Children's ITV for three series from January 6, 1989, to May 7, 1991. The programme was produced by Hat Trick Productions for Yorkshire Television. After its ...
''). The Australian novels are individual hymns to that country, with subtle disparagement of the mores of the United States (''
Beyond the Black Stump
''Beyond the Black Stump'' is a novel by British author Nevil Shute. It was first published in the UK by William Heinemann Ltd, in 1956.
Plot summary
The story concerns a young American geologist, Stanton Laird, working in the Australian outb ...
'') and overt antipathy towards the post-World War II socialist government of Shute's native Britain (''
The Far Country
''The Far Country'' is a 1954 American Technicolor Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Walter Brennan, John McIntire and Corinne Calvet. Written by Borden Chase, the film is about a self-minded advent ...
'' and ''
In the Wet'').
Shute's heroes tended to be like himself: middle-class solicitors, doctors, accountants, bank managers, and engineers—generally university graduates. However (as in ''Trustee from the Toolroom''), Shute valued the honest artisans and their social integrity and contributions to society more than the contributions of the upper classes.
Aviation and engineering provide the backdrop for many of Shute's novels. He identified how engineering, science, and design could improve human life and more than once used the anonymous epigram, "It has been said an engineer is a man who can do for ten shillings what any fool can do for a pound."
Several of Shute's novels explored the boundary between accepted science and rational belief, on the one hand, and
mystical
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...
or
paranormal
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Nota ...
possibilities, including
reincarnation
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...
, on the other hand. Shute did this by including elements of fantasy and science fiction in novels that were considered mainstream. They included
Buddhist astrology
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
and folk prophecy in ''The Chequer Board''; the effective use of a
Planchette
A planchette ( or ), from the French for "little plank", is a small, usually heart-shaped flat piece of wood equipped with two wheeled casters and a pencil-holding aperture pointing downwards, used to facilitate automatic writing. The use of ...
in ''No Highway;'' a
messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
figure in ''Round the Bend''; reincarnation, science fiction, and Aboriginal psychic powers in ''In the Wet.''
Twenty-four of his novels and novellas have been published. Many of his books have been adapted for the screen, including ''
Lonely Road'' in 1936; ''
Landfall: A Channel Story'' in 1949; ''
Pied Piper
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany.
The legend dates back to ...
'' in 1942 and again in 1959, and also as ''Crossing to Freedom,'' a CBS
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...
movie, in 1990; ''
On the Beach'' in 1959 and again in 2000 as a two-part miniseries; and ''
No Highway
No (and variant writings) may refer to one of these articles:
English language
* ''Yes'' and ''no'' (responses)
* A determiner in noun phrases
Alphanumeric symbols
* No (kana), a letter/syllable in Japanese script
* No symbol, displayed 🚠...
'' in 1951. ''
A Town Like Alice
''A Town Like Alice'' (United States title: ''The Legacy'') is a romance novel by Nevil Shute, published in 1950 when Shute had newly settled in Australia. Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman, becomes romantically interested in a fellow prisoner ...
'' was adapted into a film in 1956, serialised for
Australian television
Television in Australia began experimentally as early as 1929 in Melbourne with radio stations 3DB and 3UZ, and 2UE in Sydney, using the ''Radiovision'' system by Gilbert Miles and Donald McDonald, and later from other locations, such as Bris ...
in 1981, and also broadcast on
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...
in 1997 starring
Jason Connery
Jason Joseph Connery (born 11 January 1963) is a British actor and director. He is the son of Sean Connery and Diane Cilento. On screen, he is best known for appearing in the third series of the ITV drama series ''Robin of Sherwood'' in 1986. H ...
,
Becky Hindley
Rebecca "Becky" Hindley (born 11 August 1965) is an English television, stage and radio actress based in Lancaster, England. She is best known for her eight-month stint in ''Coronation Street'' as Charlotte Hoyle in 2010; her performance as the ...
,
Bernard Hepton
Francis Bernard Heptonstall (19 October 1925 – 27 July 2018) better known by the stage name Bernard Hepton, was an English theatre director and actor. Best known for his stage work and television roles in teleplays and series, he also appeare ...
and
Virginia McKenna
Dame Virginia Anne McKenna, (born 7 June 1931) is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner. She is best known for the films ''A Town Like Alice'' (1956), '' Carve Her Name with Pride'' (1958), ''Born Free'' (1966), and ...
. Shute's 1952 novel ''
The Far Country
''The Far Country'' is a 1954 American Technicolor Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Walter Brennan, John McIntire and Corinne Calvet. Written by Borden Chase, the film is about a self-minded advent ...
'' was filmed for television as six one-hour episodes in 1972, and as a two-part
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
in 1987.
Vintage Books
Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Hous ...
reprinted all 23 of his books in 2009.
Shute's final work was published more than 40 years after his death. ''
The Seafarers'' was first drafted in 1946–47, rewritten, and then put aside. In 1948, Shute again rewrote it, changing the title to ''Blind Understanding,'' but he left the manuscript incomplete. According to Dan Telfair in the foreword of the 2002 edition, some of the themes in ''The Seafarers'' and ''Blind Understanding'' were used in Shute's 1955 novel ''
Requiem for a Wren''.
Activities after the war
In 1948, Shute flew his own
Percival Proctor
The Percival Proctor is a British radio trainer and communications aircraft of the Second World War. The Proctor is a single-engined, low-wing monoplane with seating for three or four, depending on the model.
Design and development
The Proctor ...
aeroplane to Australia and back, accompanied by the writer
James Riddell, who published a book, ''Flight of Fancy,'' based on the trip, in 1950.
On his return, concerned about what he saw as he "felt oppressed by British taxation", he decided that he and his family would emigrate to Australia. In 1950, he settled with his wife and two daughters on farmland at
Langwarrin
Langwarrin is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Langwarrin recorded a population of 23,588 at the .
Langwarrin is bounde ...
, south-east of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. Remembering his 1930 trip to Canada and his decision to emigrate to Australia, he wrote, in 1954, "For the first time in my life I saw how people live in an English-speaking country outside England." Although he intended to remain in Australia, he did not apply for
Australian citizenship
Australian nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds Australian legal nationality. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, which Coming into force, came into force on 1 July ...
, which was at that time a mere formality because he was a
British subject
The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
. In the 1950s and 1960s he was one of the world's best-selling novelists. Between 1956 and 1958 in Australia, he took up car racing as a hobby, driving a white
Jaguar XK140
The Jaguar XK140 is a sports car manufactured by Jaguar between 1954 and 1957 as the successor to the XK120. Upgrades included more interior space, improved brakes, rack and pinion steering, increased suspension travel, and telescopic shock a ...
. Some of this experience found its way into his book ''On the Beach''.
Shute died in Melbourne in 1960 after a stroke.
Honours
Norway Road and Nevil Shute Road at
Portsmouth Airport, Hampshire
Portsmouth Airport, also known as Portsmouth City Airport, PWA (Portsmouth Worldwide Airport) and Hilsea Airport, was situated at the northeast Hilsea corner of Portsea Island on the south coast of England and was one of the last remaining comm ...
were both named after him. Shute Avenue in
Berwick, Victoria
Berwick () is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Casey local government area. Berwick recorded a population of 50,298 at the 2021 census.
It was nam ...
was named after him, when the farm used for filming the 1959 film ''On the Beach'' was subdivided for housing.
The public library in
Alice Springs
Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...
,
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
is the Nevil Shute Memorial Library.
In the Readers' List of the
Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th century, ''A Town Like Alice'' came in at number 17, ''Trustee from the Toolroom'' at 27, and ''On the Beach'' at 56.
Works
* ''
Stephen Morris'' (1923, published 1961) (with ''Pilotage''). A young pilot takes on a daring and dangerous mission.
* ''
Pilotage
Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or air ...
'' (1924, published 1961): a continuation of ''Stephen Morris''.
* ''
Marazan'' (1926) . A convict rescues a downed pilot who helps him break up a drug ring.
* ''
So Disdained
''So Disdained'' is the second published novel by British author, Nevil Shute (N.S. Norway). It was first published in 1928 by Cassell & Co., reissued in 1951 by William Heinemann, and issued in paperback by Pan Books in 1966. In the United ...
'' (1928) . Published in the U.S. as ''The Mysterious Aviator'', and written soon after the General Strike of 1926, it reflected the debate in British society about socialism. The principled narrator initially chooses loyalty to a friend who betrayed Britain to Russia, over loyalty to his King and country. The book concludes with the narrator joining forces with
Italian Fascists against a group of Russian spies.
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Lonely Road'' (1932) . This novel deals with conspiracies and counterconspiracies, and experiments with writing styles.
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Ruined City
''Ruined City'' is a 1938 novel by Nevil Shute, published by Cassell in the UK. In the US, the book was published by William Morrow under the title ''Kindling''.
Plot summary
The story is set in the Depression years of the 1930s, when a rich L ...
'' (1938) : U.S. title: ''Kindling''. A rich banker revives a town economically with a shipbuilding company through questionable financial dealings. He goes to jail for fraud, but the shipyard revives. ''Ruined City'' was distilled from Shute's experiences in trying to set up his own aircraft company.
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What Happened to the Corbetts
''What Happened to the Corbetts'' (US title: ''Ordeal'') is a novel by Nevil Shute, a fictional depiction of the effect of aerial bombing on the British city of Southampton, a major maritime centre. It was written in 1938, and published in April ...
'' (1938) . U.S. title: ''Ordeal''. Foretells the German bombing of Southampton early in WWII.
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An Old Captivity'' (1940) . The story of a pilot hired to take aerial photographs of a site in Greenland, who suffers a drug-induced flashback to Viking times.
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Landfall: A Channel Story'' (1940) . A young RAF pilot and a British barmaid fall in love. His career suffers a setback when he is thought to have sunk a British submarine in error, but he is vindicated.
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Pied Piper
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany.
The legend dates back to ...
'' (1942) . An old man rescues seven children (one of them the niece of a Gestapo officer) from France during the Nazi invasion.
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Most Secret
First edition (publ. Heinemann)
''Most Secret'' is a novel by English writer Nevil Shute, written in 1942 but censored until 1945, when it was published by Heinemann. It is narrated by a commander in the Royal Navy, and tells the story of f ...
'' (1942, published 1945) . Unconventional attacks on German forces during WWII, using a French fishing boat.
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Pastoral
A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...
'' (1944) . Crew relations and love at an airbase in rural surroundings in wartime England.
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Vinland the Good'' (film script, 1946)
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The Seafarers'' (1946–7, published 2002) . The story of a dashing British naval Lieutenant and a Wren who meet right at the end of the Second World War. Their romance is blighted by differences in social background and economic constraints; in unhappiness each turns to odd jobs in boating circles.
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The Chequer Board'' (1947) . A dying man looks up three wartime comrades, one of whom sees Burma during Japanese occupation and in its independence period after the war. The novel contains a discussion of racism in the US and in the US Army stationed in Britain: British townsfolk prefer the company of black soldiers.
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No Highway
No (and variant writings) may refer to one of these articles:
English language
* ''Yes'' and ''no'' (responses)
* A determiner in noun phrases
Alphanumeric symbols
* No (kana), a letter/syllable in Japanese script
* No symbol, displayed 🚠...
'' (1948) . Set in Britain and Canada; an eccentric "boffin" at
RAE Farnborough
The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in me ...
predicts
metal fatigue
In materials science, fatigue is the initiation and propagation of cracks in a material due to cyclic loading. Once a fatigue crack has initiated, it grows a small amount with each loading cycle, typically producing striations on some parts o ...
in a new airliner, but is not believed. The
Comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...
failed for just this reason several years later, in 1954.
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A Town Like Alice
''A Town Like Alice'' (United States title: ''The Legacy'') is a romance novel by Nevil Shute, published in 1950 when Shute had newly settled in Australia. Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman, becomes romantically interested in a fellow prisoner ...
'' (1950) : U.S. title: ''The Legacy''. The hero and heroine meet while both are prisoners of the Japanese in Malaya (now Malaysia). After the war they seek each other out and reunite in a small Australian town that would have no future if not for her plans to turn it into "a town like
Alice."
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Round the Bend
''Round the Bend!'' is a satirical British children's television series, which ran on Children's ITV for three series from January 6, 1989, to May 7, 1991. The programme was produced by Hat Trick Productions for Yorkshire Television. After its ...
'' (1951) . About a new religion developing around an aircraft mechanic. Shute considered this his best novel. It tackles racism, condemning the
White Australia policy
The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
.
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The Far Country
''The Far Country'' is a 1954 American Technicolor Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart, Ruth Roman, Walter Brennan, John McIntire and Corinne Calvet. Written by Borden Chase, the film is about a self-minded advent ...
'' (1952) . A young woman travels to Australia. A condemnation of British socialism and the national health service.
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In the Wet'' (1953) . An Anglican priest tells the story of an Australian aviator. This embraces a drug-induced flash forward to Britain in the 1980s. The novel criticises
British socialism
Socialism in the United Kingdom is thought to stretch back to the 19th century from roots arising in the aftermath of the English Civil War. Notions of socialism in Great Britain have taken many different forms from the utopian philanthropist ...
and anti-monarchist democratic sentiment.
* & ; (1964: Ballantine, New York)
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Requiem for a Wren'' (1955) . U.S. title: ''The Breaking Wave''. The story of a young British woman who, plagued with guilt after shooting down a plane carrying Polish refugees in World War II, moves to Australia to work anonymously for the parents of her (now deceased) Australian lover, whilst the lover's brother searches for her in Britain. The title echoes
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of ...
's ''
Requiem for a Nun
''Requiem for a Nun'' is a work of fiction written by William Faulkner. It is a sequel to Faulkner's early novel ''Sanctuary'', which introduced the characters of Temple Drake, her friend (later husband) Gowan Stevens, and Gowan's uncle Gavin Ste ...
''.
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Beyond the Black Stump
''Beyond the Black Stump'' is a novel by British author Nevil Shute. It was first published in the UK by William Heinemann Ltd, in 1956.
Plot summary
The story concerns a young American geologist, Stanton Laird, working in the Australian outb ...
'' (1956) . The ethical standards of an unconventional family living in a remote part of Australia are compared with those of a conventional family living in Oregon.
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On the Beach'' (1957) . Shute's best-known novel, set in Melbourne, whose population is awaiting death from the effects of an
atomic war
Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...
. It was serialised in more than 40 newspapers, and adapted into a
1959 film starring
Gregory Peck and
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her perform ...
. In 2007,
Gideon Haigh
Gideon Clifford Jeffrey Davidson Haigh (born 29 December 1965) is an English-born Australian journalist and non-fiction author who writes about sport (especially cricket), business and crime in Australia. He was born in London, was raised in Ge ...
wrote an article in ''
The Monthly
''The Monthly'' is an Australian national magazine of politics, society and the arts, which is published eleven times per year on a monthly basis except the December/January issue. Founded in 2005, it is published by Melbourne property developer ...
'' arguing that ''On the Beach'' is Australia's most important novel: "Most novels of apocalypse posit at least a group of survivors and the semblance of hope. ''On The Beach'' allows nothing of the kind."
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The Rainbow and the Rose
''The Rainbow and the Rose'' is a novel by Nevil Shute. It was first published in England in 1958 by William Heinemann.
Title
The title is taken from a sonnet "The Treasure" by Rupert Brooke, which is quoted in full as a preface:
When colour ...
'' (1958) . One man's three love stories; narration shifts from the narrator to the main character and back.
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Trustee from the Toolroom'' (1960) . Shute's last novel, about the recovery of a lost legacy of diamonds from a wrecked yacht. Set in Britain, the Pacific Islands, and the US northwest.
References
* Smith, Julian ''Nevil Shute: A Biography'' The Paper Tiger, Creskill, NJ (2002) . (First published in 1976 as part of Twayne's English Author Series)
Croft, Julian (2000) 'Norway, Nevil Shute (1899–1960)' in ''Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 15'' Melbourne University Press, pp 498–499Accessed 14 June 2007
*Giffuni, Cathy (1988) ''Nevil Shute, a bibliography'' Adelaide: Auslib Press .
*Haigh, Gideon (2007) 'Shute's sands of time' in ''The Daily Telegraph'' http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,21826948-5001031,00.html Accessed 14 June 2007
* Anderson, John, ''Parallel Motion – a biography of Nevil Shute Norway '' The Paper Tiger, (2011)
* Thorn, Richard, "Shute:The engineer who became a prince of storytellers" Matador, (2017) ()
External links
The Nevil Shute FoundationThe Nevil Shute Book Page– General Nevil Shute biographical information and extensive first edition collection tips
from ibooknet
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shute, Nevil
1899 births
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