Denis Pitts (6 January 1930 – 19 April 1994) was a
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
, filmmaker and novelist.
Denis Pitts first became widely known for his reports on the
Suez Crisis and his subsequent articles in the
New Statesman
The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...
. In Suez he made the acquaintance of
Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...
, who at the time was in charge of liaising with the press, and they would later work together for the Granada regional news programme, Scene at 6.30. While at Granada he wrote an episode of
Coronation Street and did a series of interviews with
Clement Attlee which the former prime minister agreed to if published posthumously.
He continued to work in television making a film called ‘What the Hell Happens in
Marlborough?’ which caused a stir locally. He went on to make ‘The World of
Gracie Fields’ and ‘The World of
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...
’ for the BBC. Gracie Fields revealed marital problems, also for posthumous publication, which he wrote up for
the People
The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881.
At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the ...
. While making the Bob Hope film, he filmed the anti-Vietnam protest at Kent State University in which the National Guard killed four students.
He published three novels. ''This City is Ours'' (US title: ''Target Manhattan'') about a native American hijacking of a ship in New York harbour; ''The Predator'' which told the story of a wealthy businessman kidnapping Common Market leaders during a summit and which includes a long section set during the Suez Crisis. The last one, ''Rogue Hercules'', tells of amoral pilots carrying a plane load of arms over southern African countries in search of a buyer.
He was a senior editor for Chronicle yearbooks, ''Chronicle of the 20th Century'' and ''Chronicle of the World''. His ''Guardian'' obituary called him a ‘Fresh Breeze in Moscow’, relating to his stint working as the correspondent there for the ''
Daily Express''.
Much earlier in his career he was the last editor of ''
Lilliput'' where he gave cartoonist,
John Glashan
John Glashan (born John McGlashan, 24 December 1927 – 15 June 1999Martin Plimmer,, ''The Independent'', 22 July 1999. Accessed 20 August 2016.) was a Scottish cartoonist, illustrator and playwright. He was the creator of the "Genius" cartoons.
...
his break.
His views on the death of
Grace Archer
Grace Archer (also Fairbrother) is a fictional character from the BBC's long-running radio soap, ''The Archers''. She was one of the original characters and was played by Monica Gray and then Ysanne Churchman. The episode depicting her death was b ...
in the radio soap, ''The Archers'', are quoted by
Greg Dyke
Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...
in his McTaggart Lecture of 2000.
References
External links
His BBC Guide to Comedy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitts, Denis
English male journalists
1930 births
1994 deaths