Philip John Purser (28 August 1925 – 1 August 2022) was a British television critic and novelist.

Life and career

Purser was born in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2011 census was 33,249. Letchworth ...

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 ...

on 28 August 1925. His mother had been the first female student of an art school in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, and later worked as a postcard artist in the style of

Mabel Lucie Attwell Mabel Lucie Attwell (4 June 1879 – 5 November 1964) was a British illustrator and comics artist. She was known for her cute, nostalgic drawings of children. Her drawings are featured on many postcards, advertisements, posters, books and fi ...

. After service in

World War I 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 ...

, his father eventually worked for

Tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

from 1934 when the family settled in the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

. Purser had an older sister, Rozanne. A contributor to the ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 be ...

'' in the 1950s, he was television critic of ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'' from its launch in 1961 until he was sacked in 1987 by

Peregrine Worsthorne Sir Peregrine Gerard Worsthorne (''né'' Koch de Gooreynd; 22 December 1923 – 4 October 2020) was a British journalist, writer, and broadcaster. He spent the largest part of his career at the ''Telegraph'' newspaper titles, eventually becomi ...

, the then editor. Purser co-authored two editions of '' Halliwell's Television Companion'' (1982, 1986, originally ''Halliwell's Teleguide'' 1979) and wrote a TV film ''

The One and Only Phyllis Dixey ''The One and Only Phyllis Dixey'' is a 1978 British television film directed by Michael Tuchner and starring Lesley-Anne Down, Michael Elphick and Patricia Hodge. Based on the career of the burlesque artist Phyllis Dixey, it was produced by Thame ...

'' (''Peek-A-Boo'') on the wartime erotic entertainer for

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until th ...

in 1978. A biography of Dixey (co-authored with Jenny Wilkes) was published in the same year. Purser contributed obituaries to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. He was married to the crime writer Ann Purser; the couple had two daughters and one son. Purser died from Alzheimer's disease on 1 August 2022, at the age of 96.

Bibliography

Fiction * ''Peregrination 22''. Jonathan Cape Books 1962 * ''Four Days to the Fireworks''.

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint (trade name), imprint of Hachette (publisher), Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs ...

1964 ** other edition: Sphere Books 3/1970, * ''The Twentymen''. Hodder & Stoughton 1/1967, * ''Night of Glass''. Hodder & Stoughton 12/1968, * ''Holy Fathers Navy''. Hodder & Stoughton 6/1971, * ''Lights in the Sky''. Severn House Publishers 11/2004, Non Fiction * ''Friedrich Harris: Shooting the Hero''. Quartet Books 5/1990, * ''Poeted: Final Quest of Edward James''. Quartet Books 2/1991, * ''Done Viewing'', Quartet Books 1992,

References

External links

*
''The Guardian''
profile page and articles 1925 births 2022 deaths British male journalists People from Letchworth {{UK-journalist-stub