Tom Mallin (14 June 1927 – 21 December 1977) was a British writer of novels and plays, and also an artist. Beginning his working life in the art world, as a picture restorer as well as a practising painter, illustrator and sculptor, Mallin at the age of 43, became a full-time writer, with five novels published and several plays produced on stage and for

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 th ...

before his death from cancer at the age of 50.

Biography

Early years, family and education

Tom Mather Mallin was born at

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, England, to Clifford Vincent Mallin (1887–1932) and his wife Olive May ''née'' Mather (1895–1978). From 1943 to 1945 Mallin studied at Birmingham School of Art, going on to win a scholarship to the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

. However, but after doing

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

he decided to study at the international

Anglo-French Art Centre The Anglo-French Art Centre (or Anglo-French Art School, previously the St John's Wood Art School, was an art school at 29 Elm Tree Road in St John's Wood, north London, England. The centre was founded in 1946 by Alfred Rozelaar Green, who studie ...

in London, where he met his future wife Muriel Grace George (1925–2002). He earned a living by finding employment as a

Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...

picture restorer, mainly of 17th- and 18th-century paintings, while also creating his own paintings, drawings, illustrations, prints and sculptures. Mallin and Muriel George married in 1949, moved to Clare, Suffolk, in 1955, and had two sons, Simon and Rupert.

Writing

Mallin had his first play, ''Curtains'', produced in 1968, and went on to write many more, for both stage and radio, having a six plays broadcast on

before his death in 1977 and others posthumously. Turning to full-time writing in 1970, at the age of 43, he also had five novels published by

Allison and Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in May ...

, the book covers featuring his own artwork. In a 1971 article in ''

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 ...

'',

Michael McNay Michael McNay is a British journalist and author. He worked for 37 years at ''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 s ...

described Mallin's first novel, ''Dodecahedron'' (1970), as "shocking", and said: "Tom Mallin's prose bleeds. His plays and novels are the flayed flesh of English language. If there had to be a visual comparison (and why not? Mallin used to be a realist painter) it would be with a crucifixion by

Grunewald Grunewald is the name of both a locality and a forest in Germany: * Grunewald (forest) * Grunewald (locality) Grünewald may refer to: * Grünewald (surname) * Grünewald, Germany, a municipality in Brandenburg, Germany * Grünewald (Luxembourg), ...

or a film by Bunuel." The novel was also published in the US, by Outerbridge and Lazard in 1972, to mixed reviews, with ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' noting that ''Dodecahedron'' owes a great deal to the playwriting genre. Mallin's last novel, ''Bedrok'', published in 1978, was described by

Hermione Lee Dame Hermione Lee, (born 29 February 1948) is a British biographer, literary critic and academic. She is a former President of Wolfson College, Oxford, and a former Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford and Pr ...

in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' as "a stylish as well as a very troubling novel". Two of Mallin's novels have been reprinted: ''Knut'' ("a darkly comic take on the gothic novel") and ''Erowina'' ("A dark, ambitious, stimulating, and challenging novel ... Tom Mallin's masterpiece, and a work that remains surprising, fresh and vital").

Awards and recognition

In 1979, alongside

John Arden John Arden (26 October 1930 – 28 March 2012) was an English playwright who at his death was lauded as "one of the most significant British playwrights of the late 1950s and early 60s". Career Born in Barnsley, son of the manager of a glass f ...

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in ''This Sporting ...

, Don Haworth,

Jill Hyem Jill Hyem (8 January 1937 – 5 June 2015) was a British actor, and radio and television writer. Early life and acting career Jill Hyem was born in 1937 in Putney, London, England, to Hilda (''née'' Gladwell) and Rex, a solicitor, and was raised ...

, Jennifer Phillips and

Fay Weldon Fay Weldon CBE, FRSL (born Franklin Birkinshaw; 22 September 1931 – 4 January 2023) was an English author, essayist and playwright. Over the course of her 55-year writing career, she published 31 novels, including ''Puffball'' (1980), '' The ...

, Mallin won a

Giles Cooper Award The Giles Cooper Awards were honours given to plays written for BBC Radio. Sponsored by the BBC and Methuen Drama, the awards were specifically focused on the script of the best radio drama produced in the past year. Five or six winners were chose ...

, with his posthumous winning work being included in ''Best Radio Plays of 1978''. Mallin was included in ''The Imagination on Trial: British and American writers discuss their working methods'' (Allison & Busby, 1982), co-edited by Alan Burns and Charles Sugnet, which contained interviews with 10 other authors as well as Burns himself:

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass medi ...

Eva Figes Eva Figes (; 15 April 1932 – 28 August 2012) was an English author and feminist. Figes wrote novels, literary criticism, studies of feminism, and vivid memoirs relating to her Berlin childhood and later experiences as a Jewish refugee from H ...

, John Gardner,

Wilson Harris Sir Theodore Wilson Harris (24 March 1921 – 8 March 2018) was a Guyanese writer. He initially wrote poetry, but subsequently became a novelist and essayist. His writing style is often said to be abstract and densely metaphorical, and his sub ...

, John Hawkes,

B. S. Johnson Bryan Stanley William Johnson (5 February 1933 – 13 November 1973) was an English experimental novelist, poet and literary critic. He also produced television programmes and made films. Early life Johnson was born into a working-class family, ...

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has work ...

Grace Paley Grace Paley (December 11, 1922 – August 22, 2007) was an American short story author, poet, teacher, and political activist. Paley wrote three critically acclaimed collections of short stories, which were compiled in the Pulitzer Prize and Na ...

Ishmael Reed Ishmael Scott Reed (born February 22, 1938) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known work is '' M ...

, and

Alan Sillitoe Alan Sillitoe FRSL (4 March 192825 April 2010) was an English writer and one of the so-called "angry young men" of the 1950s. He disliked the label, as did most of the other writers to whom it was applied. He is best known for his debut novel ...

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Dodecahedron'',

Allison & Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in May ...

, 1970, . * ''Knut'', Allison & Busby, 1971, ; new edition, with an introduction by Rupert Mallin, Verbivoracious Press, 2014, . * ''Erowina'', Allison & Busby, 1972, ; new edition, illus., Verbivoracious Press, 2015, . * ''Lobe'', Allison & Busby, 1977, . * ''Bedrok'', Allison & Busby, 1978, .

Selected plays

* ''Curtains'', 1968 – Edinburgh Festival's

Traverse Theatre The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963 by John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes and Richard Demarco. The Traverse Theatre company commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary pla ...

, directed by Michael Rudman; Canonbury Theatre, London, 1970; produced for radio by Guy Vaeson; published by Calder & Boyars, Playscript 57, 1971, * ''As Is Proper'', 1971,

King's Head Theatre The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an off-West End venue in London. It is the second oldest operating pub theatre in the UK. In 2021, Mark Ravenhill became Artistic Director and the theatre focusses on producing LGBTQ ...

, London * ''Cot'', 1971,

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

* ''Downpour'' – broadcast 1971 * ''The Novelist'', 1971, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh;

Hampstead Theatre Club Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...

* ''Mrs Argent'', 1972, Soho Poly, London;

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

, 1980 * ''Rooms'' – broadcast 1973 * ''Birds of Prey'' – (not produced), 1973 * ''Two Gentlemen of Hadleigh Heath'' – broadcast 1973 * ''The Lodger'' – broadcast 1974 * ''Vicar Martin'' – broadcast 1974 (BBC Radio 3, 1976) * ''Whispers'' (not produced), 1974 * ''Rowland'', BBC Radio 4: ''The Monday Play'', 4 July 1977, and BBC Radio 4: ''Afternoon Theatre'', 27 August 1978 * ''Spanish Fly'' – broadcast BBC Radio 3, 18 September 1977 * ''Halt! Who Goes There?'', 1977, broadcast posthumously, with

Clive Swift Clive Walter Swift (9 February 1936 – 1 February 2019) was an English actor and songwriter. A classically trained actor, his stage work included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he was best known to television viewers for ...

Rosemary Leach Rosemary Anne Leach (18 December 1935 – 21 October 2017) was a British stage, television and film actress. She won the 1982 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a New Play for ''84, Charing Cross Road'' and was nominated for the BAFTA Award fo ...

, 26 March 1978; winner of a 1978

and published in ''Best Radio Plays of 1978'' by Methuen, 1979

References

External links

Tom Mallin
at doolleecom * Rupert Mallin

"Tom Mallin – stories from a biography"
Rupert Mallin's Podcast. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mallin, Tom 1927 births 1977 deaths 20th-century British artists 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights 20th-century British military personnel 20th-century British novelists Alumni of the Birmingham School of Art