Robin John Chapman (18 January 1933 – 29 July 2020) 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 writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

Early life

Chapman was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. He was educated at Selhurst Grammar School (later

Selhurst High School Selhurst High School for Boys is a name that has been given to two separate schools in England that existed at different times, but occupied the same site. The former school had been a grammar school that closed in 1988, the latter was the relaun ...

) and

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, where he read English. He began his career as an actor at Cambridge, playing

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the

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's centenary production and assuming the presidency of the

Marlowe Society The Marlowe Society is a Cambridge University theatre club for Cambridge students. It is dedicated to achieving a high standard of student drama at Cambridge. The society celebrated its centenary over three years (2007–2009) and in 2008 there wa ...

, before acting at

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

and working in repertory. He then joined

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

's revolutionary

Theatre Workshop Theatre Workshop is a theatre group whose long-serving director was Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company, many of its productions were transferred to theatres in the West En ...

, where he turned to writing.

Plays and screenwriting

Among Chapman's stage plays are ''High Street China'', ''Guests'' and ''One of Us''. He enjoyed a long career in television, favoured by Granada TV during its early days. His best-known work includes ''

Spindoe ''Spindoe'' is a British television series shown on ITV in the spring of 1968. It was named after the lead character, Alec Spindoe, a South London gangster; the plot of the series showed how Spindoe re-established his gangland empire after he ha ...

'' (1968), the controversial ''

Big Breadwinner Hog ''Big Breadwinner Hog'' is a British television thriller serial devised by Robin Chapman, produced by Granada TV and transmitted in eight parts, starting at 9.00pm on 11 April 1969 on the ITV network. Overview The series focussed on the rut ...

'' (1969), and many adaptations, including

M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English author, Medieval studies, medievalist scholar and provost (education), provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936). He was List of ...

' ''

Lost Hearts "Lost Hearts" is a ghost story by British writer M. R. James, originally published in 1895. It was later collected in his 1904 book '' Ghost Stories of an Antiquary''. Plot summary The tale tells the story of Stephen Elliott, a young orphan boy, ...

'', ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...

'', '' Eyeless in Gaza'', and a considerable number of screenplays based on

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

's short stories for '' Tales of the Unexpected''. In 1973 he scripted the six-episode BBC television drama series ''A Picture of Katherine Mansfield'', and in 1976 he adapted two

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

short stories, "Dream of a Strange Land" and "Under the Garden", for episodes of ''

Shades of Greene ''Shades of Greene'' is a British television series based on short stories written by the author Graham Greene. The series began in 1975, with each hour-long episode featuring a dramatisation of one of Greene's stories, many of which dealt with ...

'' presented by

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 ...

. Chapman's single plays for television include ''Blunt'' (1987) and two editions of ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'', all three presented by BBC TV. His television plays have won awards from the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...

and the Writers Guild, as well as a BAFTA nomination. Chapman edited, with an introduction, ''The City and the Court'', a collection of five Jacobean-era comedies. His film screenplays include: * ''Keep the Aspidistra Flying'' (TV movie, 1965) * ''

The Triple Echo ''The Triple Echo'' (also known as ''Soldier in Skirts'' in its U.S. release) is a 1972 British drama film directed by Michael Apted starring Glenda Jackson, Brian Deacon and Oliver Reed, and based on the 1970 novella by H.E. Bates. It was sho ...

'' (1972) * ''

'' (TV movie, 1973) * ''Haunted: Poor Girl'' (TV movie, 1974) * ''Bellamira'' (TV movie, 1974) * ''The Way of the World'' (TV movie, 1975) * ''

Force 10 from Navarone ''Force 10 from Navarone'' is a World War II novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. It serves as a sequel to MacLean's 1957 '' The Guns of Navarone'', but follows the events of the 1961 film adaptation of the same name. It features vari ...

'' (1978) * '' The Aerodrome'' (TV movie, 1983) * ''

Killer Contract ''Killer'' is a British television series which was originally broadcast on ITV in 1984. It consisted of three stand-alone episodes, produced by Yorkshire Television. Episodes * ''Killer Waiting'' (17 February 1984) featuring John Thaw and Dian ...

'' (TV movie, 1984)

Novels

Chapman's published novels are: * ''A Waste of Public Money'' (1962) * ''My Vision's Enemy'' (1968) * ''Big Breadwinner Hog'' (1970) * ''Christoferus'' (1994) * ''Wartimes'' (two novellas in one volume) (1995) * ''The Secret of the World'' (1997) * ''The Spanish Trilogy'' (2005) ** ''The Duchess's Diary'' (1980) ** ''Sancho's Golden Age'' (2004) ** ''Pasamonte's Life'' (2005) * ''Abundance'' (2009) * ''Shakespeare's Don Quixote'' (2011) * ''Throwing Pigeons out of Aeroplanes'' (2016) ''The Spanish Trilogy'' extends the lives and experiences of characters found in

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...

' early 17th-century novel ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

''. The first book of the trilogy, ''The Duchess’s Diary'', was positively reviewed.Conant, Oliver (1985)
HOSTESS TO CERVANTES
, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 17 March 1985, retrieved 2011-07-12 Noted Cervantes scholar E. C. Riley, writing a 1980 review in ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'', called it "a truer understanding of Cervantes than twenty books of criticism". ''Shakespeare's Don Quixote'' is a narrative dialogue featuring

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, John Fletcher and Cervantes, as they talk amongst themselves while watching "actors" Don Quixote and

Sancho Panza Sancho Panza () is a fictional character in the novel ''Don Quixote'' written by Spanish author Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote and provides comments throughout the novel, known as ''sanchismos'', ...

performing a present-day

fringe theatre Fringe theatre is theatre that is produced outside of the main theatre institutions, and that is often small-scale and non-traditional in style or subject matter. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.Kemp, Robert, ''More that is Fre ...

production of the Shakespeare-Fletcher lost play ''

The History of Cardenio ''The History of Cardenio'', often referred to as simply ''Cardenio'', is a lost play, known to have been performed by the King's Men, a London theatre company, in 1613. The play is attributed to William Shakespeare and John Fletcher in a Stati ...

'', about Cervantes' teenaged character in ''Don Quixote''.

References

External links

* * http://www.booknowpublishing.com/ * http://www.robinchapmanauthor.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Robin 1933 births 2020 deaths English writers English male actors Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge People from Croydon