Victor Canning
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Victor Canning (16 June 1911 – 21 February 1986) was a prolific
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
writer of novels and
thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...
s who flourished in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interviews.


Life

Canning was born in
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...
, Devon, the eldest child of a coach builder, Fred Canning, and his wife May, née Goold. During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
his father served as an ambulance driver in France and
Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...
, while he with his two sisters went to live in the village of
Calstock Calstock ( kw, Kalstok) is a civil parish and a large village in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the border with Devon. The village is situated on the River Tamar south west of Tavistock and north of Plymouth. The parish ha ...
ten miles north of Plymouth, where his uncle Cecil Goold worked for the railways and later became station master. After the war the family returned to Plymouth. In the mid-1920s they moved to
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
where his father had found work, and Victor attended the Oxford Central School. Here he was encouraged to stay on at school and go to university by a classical scholar, Dr. Henderson, but the family could not afford it and instead Victor went to work as a clerk in the education office at age 16.Higgins, John
Victor Canning biography
/ref> Within three years he had started selling
short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
to boys' magazines and in 1934, his first novel. ''
Mr. Finchley Discovers His England ''Mr. Finchley Discovers His England'' is a 1934 comedy novel by the British writer Victor Canning.Burton p.81 It was published by Hodder and Stoughton, and a US edition published by Reynal and Hitchcock appeared in 1935 under the title ''Mr. Fin ...
'', was accepted by
Hodder and Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette. History Early history The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publish ...
and became a runaway best seller. He gave up his job and started writing full-time, producing thirteen more novels in the next six years under three different names. Lord Rothermere engaged him to write 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 ...
'', and a number of his travel articles for the ''Daily Mail'' were collected as a book with illustrations by Leslie Stead under the title ''Everyman's England'' in 1936. He also continued to write short stories. He married Phyllis McEwen in 1935, a girl from a theatrical family whom he met while she was working with a touring
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
production at
Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...
. They had three daughters, Lindel born in 1939, Hilary born in 1940, and Virginia who was born in 1942, but died in infancy. In 1940, he enlisted in the Army, and was sent for training with the
Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
in
Llandrindod Wells Llandrindod Wells (, ; cy, Llandrindod, /ɬanˈdɾindɔd/  "Trinity Parish"), sometimes known colloquially as Llandod, is a town and community in Powys, within the historic boundaries of Radnorshire, Wales. It serves as the seat of Powy ...
in mid-Wales, where he trained alongside his friend
Eric Ambler Eric Clifford Ambler OBE (28 June 1909 – 22 October 1998) was an English author of thrillers, in particular spy novels, who introduced a new realism to the genre. Also working as a screenwriter, Ambler used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for bo ...
. Both were commissioned as second lieutenants in 1941. Canning worked in
anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...
batteries in the south of England until early 1943, when he was sent to North Africa and took part in the
Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It b ...
and the Italian campaigns. At the end of the war he was assigned to an Anglo-American unit doing experimental work with
radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...
range-finding. It was
top secret Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to kn ...
work but nothing to do with espionage, though Canning never discouraged the assumption of publishers and reviewers that his espionage stories were partly based on experience. He was discharged in 1946 with the rank of major. He resumed writing with '' The Chasm'' (1947), a novel about identifying a Nazi collaborator who has hidden himself in a remote Italian village: the novel is inspired by the events of the partisan republic of Corniolo, on the
Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a '' comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Vi ...
Apennines. A film of this was planned but never finished. Canning's next book, ''
Panther's Moon ''Panther's Moon'' is a 1948 spy thriller novel by the British writer Victor Canning. It was his second post-war novel, following ''The Chasm'', as he had largely been taken a break from writing during his wartime service. Synopsis Roger Quain ...
'', was filmed as '' Spy Hunt'', and from now on Canning was established as someone who could write a book a year in the suspense genre, have them reliably appear in book club and paperback editions on both sides of the Atlantic, be translated into the main European languages, and in many cases get filmed. He himself spent a year in Hollywood working on scripts for movies of his own books and on TV shows. The money earned from the film of ''
The Golden Salamander ''The Golden Salamander'' is a 1949 thriller novel by the British writer Victor Canning. Film adaptation In 1949 the novel was adapted into a film '' Golden Salamander'' directed by Ronald Neame and starring Trevor Howard, Anouk Aimée N ...
'' (filmed with
Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage, film, and television actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved star status with his role in the film ''Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by ''T ...
) meant that Canning could buy a substantial country house with some land in Kent, Marle Place. He had moved from
Stansted London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...
in February 1952, and he then lived in Marle Place until 1969 and where his daughter continues to live now. From the mid-1950s onwards, his books became more conventional, full of exotic settings, stirring action sequences and stock characters. In 1965 he began a series of four books featuring a private detective called
Rex Carver Rex Carver is a fictional British private eye created by the prolific writer Victor Canning. He appeared in four fast-paced, irreverently narrated novels in the 1960s. In the book preceding the novels, ''The Limbo Line'' (1963), the Government ag ...
, and these were among his most successful in sales terms. Some time at the end of the 1960s, he began an affair with Diana Bird, the estranged wife of a solicitor living in the area, which led to his separation from Phyllis and leaving the family home in 1969 to settle in Devon. He had to wait five years for his divorce, and finally married Diana Bird in 1974. She died in February 1976. The six and a half years that they lived together were an extraordinarily productive period for him, containing almost all of his best work, including the first five of his 'Birdcage' novels, a trilogy of books for children starting with ''The Runaways'', and the beginning of a trilogy retelling the legends of King Arthur, ''The Crimson Chalice''. Canning married Adria Irving-Bell in November 1976, and they moved to Gloucestershire and then Herefordshire, then back to Gloucestershire. He continued writing a book a year, and started to write radio plays, of which three were broadcast. He died in
Cirencester, Gloucestershire Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home o ...
in 1986, aged 74. His last book, ''Table Number Seven'', was completed by his wife Adria and his sister Jean. Adria Canning continued to live in Cirencester. She died there in 1986. Canning seems to have been a generous and friendly man, an accomplished sportsman, keen on golf and latterly on fishing, as attested by his daughter (personal interview), the many descriptions of fishing in the books and stories after 1968, and by his dedicating a book to the cartoonist Alex Graham as his golfing partner. His love of and knowledge of English countryside and wildlife pervades his early and late work. His middle period thrillers are mainly set overseas since "in England you can always call a policeman", as he is reported to have said. In contrast, the 'Birdcage' books, beginning with '' Firecrest'' (1971) and including his masterpiece ''
The Rainbird Pattern ''The Rainbird Pattern'' is a thriller novel by Victor Canning, published by Heinemann in 1972. The novel has been described as Canning's best work in the thriller genre.Higgins, 2000 Synopsis Elderly spinster Julia Rainbird, under sessions b ...
'' (1972) which was awarded the CWA Silver Dagger and nominated for the Edgar awards, were all far darker and more realistic than any of his earlier thrillers. They do not have conventional happy endings. The settings are mostly in the south of England, and the villains are often sinister government officials who crush the innocent bystanders who might expose them.Ripley, Mike. ''Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: the boom in British thrillers from Casino Royale to The Eagle Has Landed'' (2017)


Works

* ''
Mr. Finchley Discovers His England ''Mr. Finchley Discovers His England'' is a 1934 comedy novel by the British writer Victor Canning.Burton p.81 It was published by Hodder and Stoughton, and a US edition published by Reynal and Hitchcock appeared in 1935 under the title ''Mr. Fin ...
'' (1934) * ''Polycarp’s Progress'' (1935) * ''Fly away Paul'' (1936) * ''Two Men Fought'' (1936), writing as Alan Gould * ''Everyman’s England'' (1936), illustrations by Leslie Stead * ''
Matthew Silverman Matthew Silverman (born May 20, 1976) is an American professional baseball executive. He is currently the co-president, along with Brian Auld, of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Biography Silverman is Jewish and was raised in ...
'' (1937) * ''Mercy Lane'' (1937), writing as Alan Gould * '' Mr. Finchley Goes to Paris'' (1938) * ''Sanctuary from the Dragon'' (1938), writing as Alan Gould * ''The Wooden Angel'' (1938), writing as Julian Forest * '' Fountain Inn'' (1939) * ''Every Creature of God Is Good'' (1939), writing as Alan Gould * ''
The Viaduct ''The Viaduct'' is a 1939 historical novel by the British writer Victor Canning, under the pen name of Alan Gould. The novel revolves around the construction of a railway viaduct across the River Tamar in the Cornish village Caradon in the 1870s ...
'' (1939), writing as Alan Gould * '' Mr. Finchley Takes the Road'' (1940) * ''Atlantic Company'' (1940), writing as Alan Gould * ''Beggar’s Bush'' (1940), stage play produced in Harrogate * '' Green Battlefield'' (1943) * '' The Chasm'' (1947) * ''
Panther's Moon ''Panther's Moon'' is a 1948 spy thriller novel by the British writer Victor Canning. It was his second post-war novel, following ''The Chasm'', as he had largely been taken a break from writing during his wartime service. Synopsis Roger Quain ...
'' (1948) US ''Hunter's Moon'' – filmed in 1950 as '' Spy Hunt'' * ''
The Golden Salamander ''The Golden Salamander'' is a 1949 thriller novel by the British writer Victor Canning. Film adaptation In 1949 the novel was adapted into a film '' Golden Salamander'' directed by Ronald Neame and starring Trevor Howard, Anouk Aimée N ...
'' (1949) – filmed in 1950 * '' A Forest of Eyes'' (1950) * '' Venetian Bird'' (1950) US ''Bird of Prey'' – filmed in 1952; adapted into a 1975 two-part episode of ''
Mannix ''Mannix'' is an American detective television series that ran from 1967 to 1975 on CBS. It was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller. The title character, Joe Mannix, is a private in ...
'' * '' The House of the Seven Flies'' (1952) US ''The House of the Seven Hawks'' – filmed in 1959 * ''The Man from the Turkish Slave'' (1954) * '' Castle Minerva'' (1954) US ''A Handful of Silver'' – filmed in 1964 as ''
Masquerade Masquerade or Masquerader may refer to: Events * Masquerade ball, a costumed dance event * Masquerade ceremony, a rite or cultural event in many parts of the world, especially the Caribbean and Africa * Masqueraders, the performers in the West ...
'' * '' His Bones are Coral'' (1955) US ''Twist of the Knife'' – filmed in 1970 as ''
Shark! ''Shark!'' (also known as ''Caine'' and ''Man-Eater'') is a 1969 Mexican-American action film directed by Samuel Fuller and starring Burt Reynolds and Silvia Pinal. Plot Caine, a gunrunner, becomes stranded in a small port on the Red Sea. While ...
'' * ''The Hidden Face'' (1956) US ''Burden of Proof'' * ''The Manasco Road'' (1957) US ''The Forbidden Road'' * ''The Dragon Tree'' (1958) US ''The Captives of Mora Island'' * ''Young Man on a Bicycle'' (1958) – collection of novellas – US ''Oasis Nine'' * ''The Burning Eye'' (1960) * ''A Delivery of Furies'' (1961) * ''Black Flamingo'' (1962) * ''Delay on Turtle'' (1962) – collection of novellas * '' The Limbo Line'' (1963) – filmed in 1968 * '' The Scorpio Letters'' (1964) – filmed in 1967 * '' The Whip Hand'' (1965) – the first
Rex Carver Rex Carver is a fictional British private eye created by the prolific writer Victor Canning. He appeared in four fast-paced, irreverently narrated novels in the 1960s. In the book preceding the novels, ''The Limbo Line'' (1963), the Government ag ...
book * '' Doubled in Diamonds'' (1966) – the second Rex Carver book * '' The Python Project'' (1967) – the third Rex Carver book * '' The Melting Man'' (1968) – the fourth Rex Carver book * '' Queen's Pawn'' (1969) * ''The Great Affair'' (1970) * '' Firecrest'' (1971) * ''
The Rainbird Pattern ''The Rainbird Pattern'' is a thriller novel by Victor Canning, published by Heinemann in 1972. The novel has been described as Canning's best work in the thriller genre.Higgins, 2000 Synopsis Elderly spinster Julia Rainbird, under sessions b ...
'' (1972) – filmed in 1976 as ''
Family Plot ''Family Plot'' is a 1976 American black comedy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his final directing role. It was based on Victor Canning's 1972 novel ''The Rainbird Pattern'', which Ernest Lehman adapted for the screen. The film ...
'' * ''The Runaways'' (1972) (part 1 of the Smiler trilogy) (adapted to film for U.S. television in 1975) * ''The Finger of Saturn'' (1973) * ''Flight of the Grey Goose'' (1973) (part 2 of the Smiler trilogy) * ''The Mask of Memory'' (1974) * ''The Painted Tent'' (1974) (part 3 of the Smiler trilogy) * ''The Kingsford Mark'' (1975) * ''The Doomsday Carrier'' (1976) * ''The Crimson Chalice'' (1976) (part 1 of the Arthurian trilogy) * ''The Circle of the Gods'' (1977) (part 2 of the Arthurian trilogy) * ''The Immortal Wound'' (1978) (part 3 of the Arthurian trilogy) * ''Birdcage'' (1978) * ''The Satan Sampler'' (1979) * ''Fall from Grace'' (1980) * ''The Boy on Platform One'' (1981) * ''Vanishing Point'' (1982) * ''Raven’s Wind'' (1983) * ''Birds of a Feather'' (novel) (1985) * ''Table Number Seven'' (1987) – completed by his wife and sister * ''Comedies and Whimsies'' (2007) – collection of short stories * ''The Minerva Club, The Department of Patterns and Dr. Kang'' (
Crippen & Landru Crippen & Landru Publishers is a small publisher of mystery fiction collections, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1994 by husband and wife Sandi and Douglas G. Greene in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, and is named af ...
. 2009) – collection of short stories


Sources

*Article by Graham Lord, "The crazy gamble that made Victor famous", in the ''Sunday Express'', 10 August 1975. *Interview from the ''Western Daily Press'' published on 6 February 1976. *Obituaries in ''The Times'' of 27 February 1986 and ''The Daily Telegraph'' of 28 February 1986. *An article, "Victor Canning: Popular and now very collectable author of thrillers, comic novels, and mysteries." ''Book and Magazine Collector'' No. 32, November 1986, pages 41 – 47. *Extended interviews with Canning's sister, Mrs Jean Tearle, his eldest daughter, Mrs Lindel Williams, and his literary executor, Mr Charles Collingwood.


References


External links


Full bibliography
by John Higgins
SCORPIO ROOMS: Victor Canning on TV
by Tise Vahimagi

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canning, Victor 1911 births 1986 deaths Writers from Plymouth, Devon Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of World War II British thriller writers 20th-century British novelists People from Cirencester People from Tonbridge and Malling (district)