Christopher Charles Forrest Matthew (born 8 May 1939) is a British writer and broadcaster. He is the author of ''Now We Are Sixty'', inspired by the poems of A. A. Milne in the book ''

Now We Are Six ''Now We Are Six'' is a book of thirty-five children's verses by A. A. Milne, with illustrations by E. H. Shepard. It was first published in 1927 including poems such as "King John's Christmas", "Binker" and "Pinkle Purr". Eleven of the poem ...

'', and the chronicler of the life and times of the hapless hero, Simon Crisp, in ''Diary of a Somebody''.

Early life

Matthew was born in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

, South London.''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'', 2013, p. 1548 As a child he lived in Merle Common,

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. ...

, and then in nearby

Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is south south-east of Croydon in Greater London, west of Sevenoaks in Kent, and north of East Grinstead in West Sussex. Oxte ...

. He spent most of his teenage years in Burnham Market in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury, and read English at St Peter's College, Oxford.

Career

After a year spent teaching in a girls' finishing school in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, Matthew worked as a copywriter in various London advertising agencies including JWT, before becoming a full-time writer in 1970. His books include ''Diary of a Somebody'', ''Loosely Engaged'', ''The Long-Haired Boy'' (adapted for TV as ''

A Perfect Hero ''A Perfect Hero'' is a 1991 TV drama serial set in World War II England. It was produced by Havahall Pictures in association with LWT for ITV and first broadcast at 9:00pm on Friday 17 May 1991 and ran for six episodes. It was broadcast in the ...

'', starring

Nigel Havers Nigel Allan Havers (born 6 November 1951) is an English actor. His film roles include Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film ''Chariots of Fire'', which earned him a BAFTA nomination; as Dr. Rawlins in the 1987 Steven Spielberg war drama ...

), an annotated edition with Benny Green of

Three Men in a Boat ''Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)'',The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: ''Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog!'' published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a tw ...

, ''The Junket Man'', ''How to Survive Middle Age'', ''Family Matters'', ''The Amber Room'', ''A Nightingale Sang in Fernhurst Road'', ''Now We Are Sixty'', ''Knocking On'', ''Now We Are Sixty (and a Bit)'', ''Summoned by Balls'', ''When We Were Fifty'', ''The Man Who Dropped the Le Creuset on His Toe and Other Bourgeois Mishaps'', and ''Dog Treats: An Assortment of Mutts, Mongrels, Puppies and Pooches''. As a journalist, he has been a travel writer for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', a restaurant critic for

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

, a property correspondent for ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'', and a television and book reviewer for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

''. He has written short stories for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and his radio plays include ''A Portrait of Richard Hillary'', ''Madonna's Plumber'', and ''A Nightingale Sang in Fernhurst Road''. He contributed scripts to the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

series, '' The Good Guys'' with

and Keith Barron, and a stage play, ''Summoned by Betjeman'', starring

Robert Daws Robert Daws (born 4 May 1959) is an English actor, and crime fiction author. He is best known for his television roles, including Tuppy Glossop in ''Jeeves and Wooster'' (1990-93), gruff cricketer Roger Dervish in the comedy ''Outside Edge'' ( ...

, was performed at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, the Royal Theatre, Northampton, and Clwyd Theatr Cymru. In 1983 Matthew,

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...

and Benny Green recreated

Jerome K. Jerome Jerome Klapka Jerome (2 May 1859 – 14 June 1927) was an English writer and humourist, best known for the comic travelogue ''Three Men in a Boat'' (1889). Other works include the essay collections '' Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow'' (1886) a ...

's classic Thames journey in ''Three More Men in a Boat'' for BBC Television. He has appeared many times over the years on

– among other things as chairman of ''The Travelling Show'', presenter of ''Something to Declare'', ''Points of Departure'' and ''Plain Tales from the Rhododendrons'', and panellist on ''

Quote Unquote Quote is a hypernym of quotation, as the repetition or copy of a prior statement or thought. Quotation marks are punctuation marks that indicate a quotation. Both ''quotation'' and ''quotation marks'' are sometimes abbreviated as "quote(s)". Co ...

''. For several years he worked with Alan Coren on ''Freedom Pass'' (nominated for a Sony Award), and with Des Lynam on ''Touchline Tales''. In 2012 he recorded a special ''Freedom Pass'' episode with Terry Waite, and in 2013 he and Martin Jarvis journeyed back to their childhood homes in ''Grey Shorts and Sandals''. Most recently he presented a three-hour celebration of the life of Alan Coren – ''The Sage of Cricklewood'' – for Pier Productions on

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

Personal life

Matthew has two sons and a step-daughter and lives in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

with his wife.

Bibliography

*''A Different World: Stories of Great Hotels'', Paddington Press (1974) *''Diary of a Somebody'', Hutchinson (1978) *''Loosely Engaged'', Hutchinson (1980) *''The Long-Haired Boy'', Hamish Hamilton (1980) *''The Crisp Report'', Hutchinson (1981) *''Three Men in a Boat (annotated edition with Benny Green)'', Pavilion Books (1982) *''The Junket Man'', Arrow (1983) *''How to Survive Middle Age'', Pavilion Books (1983) *''Family Matters'', Hodder & Stoughton (1987) *''The Amber Room'', Sinclair-Stevenson (1995) *''A Nightingale Sang in Fernhurst Road'', John Murray (1998) *''Now We Are Sixty'', John Murray (1999) *''Knocking On'', John Murray (2001) *''Now We Are Sixty (and a Bit)'', John Murray (2003) *''Summoned by Balls'', John Murray (2005) *''When We Were Fifty'', John Murray (2007) *''The Man Who Dropped the Le Creuset on His Toe and Other Bourgeois Mishaps'', Little, Brown (2013) *''Dog Treats: An Assortment of Mutts, Mongrels, Puppies and Pooches'', Little, Brown (2014) *''A Bus Pass Named Desire'', Little, Brown (2016) *''The Old Man and the Knee: How to be a Golden Oldie'', Little, Brown (2017)

References

External links

Christopher Matthew at Debrett's
*
Christopher Matthew at Jonathan Pegg Literary Agency
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthew, Christopher 1939 births Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford English humorists British male journalists English radio personalities Living people People educated at The King's School, Canterbury People from Lewisham