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Rodney David Wingfield (6 June 1928 – 31 July 2007) was an English author and radio
dramatist
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 ...
. He is best remembered for creating the character of
Detective Inspector Jack Frost, who was later played by
Sir David Jason
Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally by his stage name David Jason, is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the BBC sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector J ...
in ''
A Touch of Frost
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
''.
Early life
Rodney David Wingfield was born in
Hackney, east London in 1928.
He was educated at the
Coopers' Company School and during the
Second World War
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 opposi ...
was evacuated to
Frome
Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...
, Somerset.
Wingfield was exempted from
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 ...
due to poor
eyesight
Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the visible spectrum reflect ...
and had various office jobs in the
East End before joining the
Petrofina
Petrofina was a Belgian oil company. It merged with Total in 1999 to form TotalFina, which after subsequent mergers has changed its name back to Total. In the United States, Fina's former refining and marketing operations are now owned by De ...
oil company.
His first radio play, ''Our West Ladyton Branch'' was accepted by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in 1968 and two more were then commissioned, at which point Wingfield resigned from his job.
Inspector Frost
In 1972,
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publ ...
invited him to write a book, and he wrote ''
Frost at Christmas
''Frost at Christmas'' (1984) is the first of the series of novels written by R. D. Wingfield, the creator of the character Detective Inspector Jack Frost, who is more famously known in the television series ''A Touch of Frost'', where the chara ...
''. This was rejected and not published until the early 1980s in Canada.
Wingfield had originally planned to kill Frost in the first book, but he was persuaded instead to leave it as an open ending.
Following this, two more Frost books were written: ''
A Touch of Frost
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
'' and ''
Night Frost
''Night Frost'' is a novel by R. D. Wingfield in the popular series featuring Detective Inspector Jack Frost, coarse, crude, slapdash – and holder of the George Cross. The novel was filmed for the ITV detective series ''A Touch of Frost
...
''. In 1977 Frost appeared in a radio play called ''Three Days of Frost'', in which Frost was played by
Leslie Sands
Leslie Sands (19 May 1921 – 9 May 2001) was a British actor and writer of TV and film. Born in Bradford, Yorkshire, Sands usually specialized in dour types in authority, often policemen.
He was married to Pauline Williams (1950 - 9 May 2 ...
, a friend of Wingfield's.
The books were first published in the United Kingdom in early 1989, and in 1992 Frost first appeared on television in ''
A Touch of Frost
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
'', played by
David Jason
Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally by his stage name David Jason, is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the BBC sitcom '' Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector ...
.
Wingfield was never enthusiastic about the TV adaptation of his detective, once saying he had nothing against David Jason but "he just isn't my Frost".
''
Hard Frost'' was published in 1995, followed by ''
Winter Frost'' in 1999.
Wingfield did not enjoy writing books, and much preferred writing radio scripts.
In 20 years he wrote over 40 radio mystery plays, but stopped in 1988, with ''Hate Mail'', due to the decline of radio and the success of his Frost books.
As well as the many mystery plays, Wingfield also penned a comedy radio series, ''The Secret Life of Kenneth Williams'', starring
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was an English actor of Welsh heritage. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 '' ...
as a
secret agent
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
.
Wingfield was a very private man, always avoiding book launches and publishing parties, and being rarely photographed.
Other
In 1982,
Leslie Sands
Leslie Sands (19 May 1921 – 9 May 2001) was a British actor and writer of TV and film. Born in Bradford, Yorkshire, Sands usually specialized in dour types in authority, often policemen.
He was married to Pauline Williams (1950 - 9 May 2 ...
played Sergeant Fowler in Wingfield's BBC radio thriller ''Outbreak of Fear'', a murder mystery set in the West Country.
In 1987,
Bob Peck
Robert Peck (23 August 1945 – 4 April 1999) was an English actor who played Ronald Craven in the television serial ''Edge of Darkness'', for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He was also known for his role as game warden Rob ...
starred in the Wingfield BBC radio drama ''Deadfall'', about a demolition man whose past catches up with him.
The 'winkle' postcard (sent by Inspector Frost) is most probably based on a
Donald McGill
Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...
seaside postcard.
After a dispute with the BBC in 1984 he submitted a number of radio plays under the pseudonym "Arthur Jefferson", (the real name of
Stan Laurel) one such play being ''The Killing Season'' broadcast in six-parts that same year and starring
Sean Barrett,
Michael Jenner,
John Hollis
John Hollis (12 November 1927 – 18 October 2005) was a British actor of TV and film. He is known for his uncredited appearance as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the ''James Bond'' film '' For Your Eyes Only'', as well as for his appearances in the ...
, and
Allan Cuthbertson
Allan Darling Cuthbertson (7 April 1920 – 8 February 1988) was an Australian-born British actor. He was best known for playing stern-faced military officers in British films of the 1950s and 1960s.
Early life
Cuthbertson was born in Perth, ...
; the serial was essentially a palimpsest of his earlier serial Outbreak of Fear. The final of his non-Inspector Frost radio plays was ''Hate Mail'' broadcast in 1988.
Later years
In 2002, R. D. Wingfield was diagnosed with
prostate cancer.
At about the same time he started writing the sixth, and final, Frost book,
''A Killing Frost''.
His wife, Phyllis Patten, whom he married in 1952, died in 2004. They had a son, Phillip.
Wingfield died from cancer in 2007,
and ''A Killing Frost'' was published on 7 April 2008.
In 2011, the first of four new Frost books was published with the approval of the Wingfield family. The books — ''First Frost,'' ''Fatal Frost,'' ''Morning Frost,'' and ''Frost at Midnight'' — are published under the name James Henry. In the case of ''First Frost'', this pseudonym refers to James Gurbutt and
Henry Sutton, but for the others it refers to Gurbutt only.
All the books are now available in
E-book
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
format.
Bibliography
Inspector Frost novels
* ''
Frost at Christmas
''Frost at Christmas'' (1984) is the first of the series of novels written by R. D. Wingfield, the creator of the character Detective Inspector Jack Frost, who is more famously known in the television series ''A Touch of Frost'', where the chara ...
'' (1984)
* ''
A Touch of Frost
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
'' (1987)
* ''
Night Frost
''Night Frost'' is a novel by R. D. Wingfield in the popular series featuring Detective Inspector Jack Frost, coarse, crude, slapdash – and holder of the George Cross. The novel was filmed for the ITV detective series ''A Touch of Frost
...
'' (1992)
* ''
Hard Frost'' (1995)
* ''
Winter Frost'' (1999)
* ''
A Killing Frost'' (2008)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wingfield, Rd
1928 births
2007 deaths
English crime fiction writers
English radio writers
People from Hackney Central
English male novelists
20th-century English novelists
20th-century English male writers
21st-century English novelists
21st-century English male writers
Writers from London