Colin MacInnes (20 August 1914 – 22 April 1976) was an English novelist and journalist.

Early life

MacInnes was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, son of singer James Campbell McInnes and novelist Angela Mackail, who was the granddaughter of the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...

artist

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

and also related to

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

and

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (3 August 186714 December 1947), was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was prominent in the political leadership of the United Kingdom between the world wars. He was prime ministe ...

. MacInnes's parents divorced in 1917. His mother remarried and the family relocated to Australia in 1920, living in Malvern,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. He attended Scotch College and, for much of his childhood, was known as Colin Thirkell, the surname of his mother's second husband. Later he used his father's surname McInnes, afterwards changing it to MacInnes. He had an older brother, Graham McInnes, and a younger half-brother, Lance Thirkell. He worked in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

from 1930 until 1935, then studied painting in London at the London Polytechnic school and the School of Drawing and Painting in

Euston Road Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to Kings Cross, London, King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston ...

. Towards the end of his life, he stayed at the home of Martin Green, his publisher, and Green's wife Fiona, in Fitzrovia, where MacInnes spent time, regarding their small family as his own adoptive one until his death.

Career

MacInnes served in the

British Intelligence Corps The Intelligence Corps (Int Corps) is a corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security. The Director of the Intelligence Corps is a b ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and worked in occupied Germany after the European armistice. These experiences resulted in the writing of his first novel, '' To the Victors the Spoils''. Soon after his return to England, he worked for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

until he could earn a living from his writing.Biographical note
(Colin MacInnes Papers), River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester. He was the author of a number of books depicting London

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

and black immigrant culture during the 1950s, in particular '' City of Spades'' (1957), '' Absolute Beginners'' (1959) and '' Mr Love & Justice'' (1960), known collectively as the "London trilogy". Many of his books were set in the

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...

area of London, then a poor and racially mixed area, home to many new immigrants and which suffered a race riot during 1958. Openly

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

, he wrote on subjects including urban squalor, racial issues, bisexuality, drugs, anarchy, and "decadence". ''Mr Love & Justice'' concerns two characters, Frank Love and Edward Justice, during late 1950s London. Mr Love is a novice ponce (

pimp Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" ...

); Mr Justice is a police officer newly transferred to the plain-clothes division of the Vice Squad. Gradually their lives intermesh.

Adaptations and influence

'' Absolute Beginners'' was filmed in 1986 by director

Julien Temple Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including ''The Great Rock 'n' Roll ...

. In 2007 a stage adaptation by Roy Williams was performed at the Lyric Theatre,

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, London.

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

appeared in the film '' Absolute Beginners'' and recorded the

title song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

, which was a hit around the world. '' City of Spades'' was adapted by Biyi Bandele as a radio play, directed by Toby Swift, broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

on 28 April 2001. MacInnes occurs as a character in ''Tainted Love'' (2005),

Stewart Home Kevin Llewellyn Callan (born 24 March 1962), better known as Stewart Home, is an English artist, filmmaker, writer, pamphleteer, art historian, and activist. His novels include the non-narrative '' 69 Things to Do with a Dead Princess'' (2002 ...

's novel of 1960s and 1970s counterculture.Stewart Home, ''Tainted Love'', London: Virgin Books, 2005.

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

's albums '' England, Half English'' (2002) and '' Mr. Love & Justice'' (2008) borrowed their titles from books by MacInnes.

The Jam The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey, consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in ...

released a single called " Absolute Beginners" in 1981.

Bibliography

* ''To the Victor the Spoils'' ( MacGibbon & Kee, 1950;

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 Ma ...

, 1986) * ''June in Her Spring'' (MacGibbon & Kee, 1952;

Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, Margaret S ...

, 2008) * '' City of Spades'' (MacGibbon & Kee, 1957; Allison & Busby, 1980) * '' Absolute Beginners'' (MacGibbon & Kee, 1959; Allison & Busby, 1980) * ''Mr Love & Justice'' (MacGibbon & Kee, 1960; Allison & Busby, 1980) * ''England, Half English'' (MacGibbon & Kee, 1961) – a collection of previously published journalism * ''London, City of Any Dream'' ( Thames & Hudson, 1962) – photo essay * ''Australia and New Zealand'' (Time Life, 1964) * ''All Day Saturday'' (MacGibbon & Kee, 1966) * ''Sweet Saturday Night'' (MacGibbon & Kee, 1967) – a history of British musichall * ''Westward to Laughter'' (MacGibbon & Kee, 1969) * '' Three Years to Play'' (MacGibbon & Kee, 1970) * ''Loving Them Both: A Study of Bisexuality'' (Martin Brian and O'Keeffe, 1973) * ''Out of the Garden'' (

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, 1974) * ''No Novel Reader'' (Martin Brian & O'Keeffe, 1975) * ''Out of the Way: Later Essays'' (Martin Brian & O'Keeffe, 1980) * ''Absolute MacInnes: The Best of Colin MacInnes'' (Allison & Busby, 1985) * ''Fancy Free'' Unpublished novel (MS and typescript); gifted to Fiona Green, 1973 * ''Visions of London'' (MacGibbon & Kee 1969)

References

External links