Ronald Harold Hardy (16 November 1919 – October 1991) was an English novelist and screenwriter. His first novel ''The Place of Jackals'' was published in 1954 to acclaim. Hardy drew on his experiences as a liaison officer in Indochina during

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in the writing of this novel. A review in ''Time'' magazine claimed that the novel ''"establishes him as Graham Greene's No. 1 disciple."'' Hardy won the 1962

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

for his fifth novel '' Act of Destruction''. Besides his nine works of fiction, he wrote one non-fiction book about the construction of the

Uganda Railway The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the lin ...

entitled '' The Iron Snake''. Hardy was also a TV screenwriter, with ''Suspense'' and ''

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Canadi ...

'' among his credits. He qualified as a

Certified Public Accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...

before turning to writing. He married Betty Beattie and they had a son called David. After their marriage ended he married Joyce Cook and had two children, Christopher and Christine.

Works

* ''The Place of Jackals'', 1954 * ''A Name Like Herod'', 1955 * ''Kampong'', 1957 * ''The Men from the Bush'', 1959 * ''Act of Destruction'', 1962 * ''The Iron Snake'', 1965 (non-fiction) * ''Return to Arms'', 1967 * ''The Savages'', 1967 * "The Face of Jalanath",1973 * ''Rivers of Darkness'', 1979 * ''The Wings of the Wind'', 1987

External links

* ''Time'' magazine review of ''The Place of Jackals'

* 1919 births 1991 deaths James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients 20th-century English novelists {{England-writer-stub