Percy Howard Newby CBE (25 June 1918 – 6 September 1997) was an English

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

and broadcasting administrator. He was the first winner of the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

, his novel '' Something to Answer For'' having received the inaugural award in 1969.

Early life

P.H. Newby, known as Howard Newby, was born in Crowborough, Sussex on 25 June 1918 and was educated at

Hanley Castle Grammar School Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Hanley is the ''de facto'' city centre, having long been t ...

in Worcestershire, and St Paul's College of Education in Cheltenham. In October 1939 he was sent to France to serve in

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

as a private in the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps ...

. His unit was one of the last to be evacuated. Afterwards he was sent to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

and served in the

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

ian desert.

Career

Newby was released from military service in December 1942, and then taught

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

at King Fouad University in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

until 1946. One of his students was the Egyptian editor Mursi Saad El-Din. From 1949 to 1978 he was employed by the

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. ...

, beginning as a radio producer and going on to become successively Controller of the Third Programme and Radio Three, Director of Programmes (Radio), and finally managing director, BBC Radio. While at Radio 3, Newby is credited with increasing the amount of Classical music on the station without the need for controversial changes to schedules. His first novel, ''A Journey into the Interior'', was published in 1946. He then returned to England to write. In the same year he was given an Atlantic Award in literature, and two years thence he received the Somerset Maugham Prize. In 1947, John Lehmann published Newby's boys' adventure story "The Spirit of Jem" with 41 line drawings and a colour dust wrap by

Keith Vaughan John Keith Vaughan (23 August 1912 – 4 November 1977), was a British painter. Biography Born at Selsey in West Sussex, Vaughan attended Christ's Hospital school. He worked in an advertising agency until the World War II, when as an intending ...

. He was appointed a CBE for his work as managing director of

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 ...

. In his obituary author, friend and colleague

Anthony Thwaite Anthony Simon Thwaite (23 June 1930 – 22 April 2021) was an English poet and critic, widely known as the editor of his friend Philip Larkin's collected poems and letters. Early years and education Born in Chester, England, to Yorkshire par ...

states: "P. H. Newby was one of the best English novelists of the second half of the century."

Novels

* ''A Journey to the Interior'' (1945) * ''The Spirit of Jem'' (1947) * ''Agents and Witnesses'' (1947) * ''Mariner Dances'' (1948) * ''The Loot Runners'' (1949) * ''The Snow Pasture'' (1949) * ''The Young May Moon'' (1950) * ''A Season in England'' (1951) * ''A Step to Silence'' (1952) * ''The Retreat'' (1953) * '' Picnic at Sakkara'' (1955) * ''Revolution and Roses'' (1957) * ''Ten Miles From Anywhere'' (1958) * ''A Guest and His Going'' (1960) * ''The Barbary Light'' (1962) * ''One of the Founders'' (1965) * '' Something to Answer For'' (1968) * ''A Lot to Ask'' (1973) * ''Kith'' (1977) * ''Feelings Have Changed'' (1981) * ''Leaning in the Wind'' (1986) * ''Coming in with the Tide'' (1991) * ''Something About Women'' (1995)

Nonfiction

* ''Maria Edgeworth'' (1950) * ''The Novel, 1945-1950'' (1951) * ''The Uses of Broadcasting'' (1978) * ''The Egypt Story'' (1979) * ''Warrior Pharaohs'' (1980) * ''Saladin in His Time'' (1983)

References

External links

Information site for P.H. Newby
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newby, P. H. 1918 births 1997 deaths 20th-century English novelists Newby, Howard Booker Prize winners British Army personnel of World War II Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Hanley Castle High School Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers