Jimmy O'Connor (20 May 1918 – 29 September 2001) was an English playwright for ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic ...

'' and ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' television series on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Early life

He was born James O'Connor in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

, west

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 in 1918. His father, James O'Connor, was a merchant mariner and fish monger from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

; his mother a part-time prostitute.O'Connor, Jimmy (1976). The Eleventh Commandment. London: Penguin. pp. 191. Growing up in the slums of West London, O'Connor learned the trade of

petty theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal short ...

. Doing the "honorable thing" he married Mary Agnes Davey, four years his senior, in the spring of 1936. She was

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, while he was

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

. Their son, James William O'Connor, was born on 19 September 1936. Mary O'Connor divorced her husband in 1946 after he attempted to have their son removed from her care and raised Catholic. With the beginning of

World War II 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 ...

, O'Connor enlisted and served with the British Expeditionary Forces in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He was one of the few survivors of the sinking of the ship ''

RMS Lancastria RMS ''Lancastria'' was a British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government, Government of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Aerial. Having received an emergency order to evacua ...

'' on 17 June 1941, and shared a life raft with

Cunard Line The Cunard Line ( ) is a British shipping and an international cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its four ships have been r ...

Captain Harry Grattidge. After an

honorable discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

, he went back to theft and was sentenced to six months in prison in late 1941."Jimmy O'Connor". ''The Daily Telegraph''. (22 November 2001). Retrieved 27 July 2008. When O'Connor was released in 1952, his son, not eager for a reunion, went to sea and eventually served for a few years on '' The Queen Mary'' under Capt. Grattidge. Grattidge later wrote about both O'Connor and his son (under the pseudonym "Terry").

Murder conviction

In January 1942, O'Connor was arrested for the murder of George Ambridge on 14 April 1941. In spite of questionable testimony and poor forensic evidence (O'Connor was in the possession of a pocket watch police claimed belonged to the murdered man), he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Two days before he was to hang which would have been on his birthday O'Connor was given a reprieve. While in Dartmoor Prison, O'Connor entered into a correspondence course through

Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is a higher education institution and part of the University of West London, in Oxford, England. It is not a Colleges of the University of Oxford, college of Oxford University. Named ...

Later life

When O'Connor was released from prison in 1952, he became a reporter for the ''Empire News''. Still trying to clear his name with a full pardon, O'Connor met and fell in love with

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

Nemone Lethbridge, who had joined his cause for complete exoneration. They were secretly married in 1959. When their marriage was made public in 1962, with the stigma of O'Connor still being out "

At Her Majesty's Pleasure At His Majesty's pleasure (when the reigning monarch is female, at Her Majesty's pleasure), sometimes abbreviated to the King's pleasure (or the Queen's pleasure), is a term of art in public law and in penal law. In public law, it refers to the ...

", Lethbridge was forced out of chambers and left unable to practise law."Jimmy O'Connor". Guardian Unlimited (3 October 2001). Retrieved 27 July 2008 In 1968, O'Connor and Lethbridge petitioned the courts for a pardon based on new information concerning the pocket watch and the alleged confession to O'Connor by another man. Although the evidence against O'Connor was in doubt, in 1970 the courts denied O'Connor a full pardon. With his earnings as an author, as well as a received television plays by Lethbridge, the couple bought a villa on the isle of

Mykonos Mykonos (, ; ) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. At the 2021 census, there were 10,704 inhabitants, most of ...

, spending time with the likes of

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

and Jackie Onassis. O'Connor and Lethbridge's first son, Ragnar O'Connor, was born in 1970. O'Connor was still bitter about the denial of his pardon and drank most his money away, causing Lethbridge to leave him in 1971 and return to London seeking a restraining order. The couple reconciled long enough to have a second son, Milo O'Connor, in 1973, but shortly thereafter they divorced. O'Connor continued to drink heavily, and returned to London. In 1994, O'Connor was given access to a small selection of files from his 1942 trial. One memo suggested that the actual killer was the same man O'Connor claimed had confessed in 1968. Shortly after the discovery, O'Connor suffered a series of strokes and was placed in a Catholic charity nursing home by Lethbridge, just a few blocks from her home in

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area in the northwest part of the London Borough of Hackney, England. The area is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington (parish), Stoke Newington, the ancient parish. S ...

. On 29 September 2001, Jimmy O'Connor died after another series of strokes at the age of 83. In 2007 Lethbridge (having now been re-instated to chambers) was allowed to bring O'Connor's case once again before the courts.

Career

O'Connor became a playwright with his scripts for ''

television series. Released in 1965, ''Tap on the Shoulder'', ''Three Clear Sundays'' and ''The Profile of a Gentleman'' drew from O'Connor's experiences in prison and the people he grew up with in the West End. O'Connor continued to write for television and regained some acclaim with the 1973 ''

'' episode "On Her Majesty's Pleasure" which brought critical attention to actor

Bob Hoskins Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor and film director. Known for his intense but sensitive portrayals of "tough guy" characters, he began his career on stage before making his screen breakthrough pl ...

. In 1976, O'Connor's autobiography ''The Eleventh Commandment'' became a best-seller.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Jimmy 1918 births 2001 deaths People from Paddington Writers from the City of Westminster English television writers English autobiographers Prisoners sentenced to death by England and Wales English people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by England and Wales English male non-fiction writers English male television writers English people of Irish descent 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English male writers British Army personnel of World War II