Leslie Thomas,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(22 March 1931 – 6 May 2014) was a Welsh author best known for his comic novel '' The Virgin Soldiers''.

Early life

Thomas was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. He was orphaned at the age of 12, when his mariner father was lost at sea and his mother died only a few months later from cancer. He was subsequently brought up in a Dr Barnardo's home; the story of this upbringing was the subject of his first, autobiographical, book, ''This Time Next Week''. Thomas attended

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Technical School and he then took a course in journalism at South-West Essex Technical College in

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London and the ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Charing Cross, the town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and Sou ...

. In 1949 he was called up for

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 ...

and embarked on a two-year

tour of duty For military personnel, a tour of duty is usually a period of time spent in combat or in a hostile environment. In an army, for instance, soldiers on active duty serve 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the length of their service commitment. ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

with the Royal Army Pay Corps. While there he was briefly involved with the military action against communist rebels in the

Malayan emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...

. He also began to write short articles for publication in English newspapers.

Career

Upon his return to England in 1951, Thomas resumed his work for the local newspaper group in north London where he had worked before his National Service, but within five years he was working for the Exchange Telegraph news agency, now Extel, and eventually with the ''

London Evening News The ''London Evening News'' was a newspaper whose first issue was published on 14 August 1855. Usually, when people mention the ''London Evening News'', they are actually referring to '' The Evening News'', published in London from 1881 to 1980, ...

'' newspaper, first as a sub-editor, later as a reporter. He stayed with the ''

Evening News Evening News may refer to: Television news *''CBS Evening News'', an American news broadcast *'' ITV Evening News'', a UK news broadcast *''JNN Evening News'', a Japanese news broadcast *''Evening News'', an alternate name for '' News Hour'' in so ...

'' until 1965, when he embarked full-time on his writing career. In 1984, Thomas published ''In My Wildest Dreams'' recounting his childhood in South Wales, his days in Doctor Barnardo's homes in London, his National Service in the Far East, and his career in journalism. His novels about 1950s British

such as '' The Virgin Soldiers'' spawned two film versions, in 1969 and 1977, while his '' Tropic of Ruislip'' and '' Dangerous Davies, The Last Detective'' have been adapted for television (the former as ''Tropic'' in 1979 and the latter having also spawned a film version, in 1981 and a TV series in 2003 with

Peter Davison Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor with many credits in television dramas and sitcoms. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous in 1978 as Tristan ...

). He was a subject of the television programme ''

This Is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to: Television * ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards * ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...

'' in 1979 when he was surprised by

Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...

at a Barnardo’s hostel in Kingston, Surrey. His experiences as a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

conscript Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day u ...

in the Far East during the height of the Malayan emergency were recalled when he appeared in the

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content ...

documentary ''Caught in the Draft'' in 1985. He joined ex-RAF national serviceman

Bob Monkhouse Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including '' The Golden Shot'', '' Celebrity Squares'', '' Family Fortunes'' and '' ''Wipeout'. Ea ...

and BBC Radio 2 drivetime presenter

John Dunn John, Jack, Johnny, Jon, or Jonathan Dunn may refer to: Entertainment *John Dunn (pipemaker) (c. 1764–1820), inventor of keyed Northumbrian smallpipes *John Dunn (actor) born O'Donoghue (1813–1875), Australian comic actor *John Millard Dunn (1 ...

in a programme filled with reminiscences about their years in uniform. He was also featured in the short-lived

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

show ''Time of My Life'' in 1983. The show was presented by

Noel Edmonds Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948) is an English television presenter, radio DJ, writer, producer, and businessman. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented ...

and Thomas was reunited with National Service colleague Reg Wilcock for the first time in 32 years. They duetted on "

Tumbling Tumbleweeds "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" is a song composed by Bob Nolan. Although one of the most famous songs associated with the Sons of the Pioneers, the song was composed by Nolan in the 1930s, while working as a caddy and living in Los Angeles. Originally ti ...

", a song they used to sing frequently at the Liberty Club in Singapore. Thomas was the subject of the first edition of BBC Wales' series ''Great Welsh Writers'', broadcast on BBC One Wales on 25 February 2013. The programme featured interviews with Thomas,

Peter Grosvenor Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

Frederick Forsyth Frederick McCarthy Forsyth (born 25 August 1938) is an English novelist and journalist. He is best known for thrillers such as '' The Day of the Jackal'', '' The Odessa File'', ''The Fourth Protocol'', '' The Dogs of War'', '' The Devil's Alt ...

and

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, '' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ...

, as well as archive clips from earlier programmes.

Honours

In the

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark th ...

List published 31 December 2004, he was made an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for services to literature. He died in

Salisbury, Wiltshire Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

after a lengthy illness on 6 May 2014, aged 83.

Bibliography

Biographical *''This Time Next Week'' (1964) *''In My Wildest Dreams'' (1984) Novels *'' The Virgin Soldiers'' (1966) *''Orange Wednesday'' (1967) *''The Love Beach'' (1968) *''Come to the War'' (1969) *''His Lordship'' (1970) *''Onward Virgin Soldiers'' (1971) *''Arthur McCann and All His Women'' (1972) *''The Man with the Power'' (1973) *'' Tropic of Ruislip'' (1974) *''Stand Up Virgin Soldiers'' (1975) *''Bare Nell'' (1977) *''Ormerod's Landing'' (1978) *''That Old Gang of Mine'' (1979) *''The Magic Army'' (1981) *''The Dearest and the Best'' (1984) *''The Adventures of Goodnight and Loving'' (1986) *''Orders for New York'' (1989) *''Evening News Short Stories'' (1990) *''The Loves and Journeys of Revolving Jones'' (1991) *''Arrivals and Departures'' (1992) *''Running Away'' (1994) *''Kensington Heights'' (1996) *''Chloe's Song'' (1997) *''Other Times'' (1999) *''Waiting for the Day'' (2003) *''Dover Beach'' (2005) *''Soldiers and Lovers'' (2007) Dangerous Davies novels *''

Dangerous Davies Detective Constable "Dangerous" Davies is the central character in a series of comic novels by Leslie Thomas and a TV series, ''The Last Detective'' made for ITV and starring Peter Davison. The first novel in the series had earlier been made in ...

, the Last Detective'' (1976) *''Dangerous in Love'' (1987) *''Dangerous by Moonlight'' (1993) *''Dangerous Davies and the Lonely Heart'' (1998) Travel *''Some Lovely Islands'' (1971) *''Hidden Places of Britain'' (1981) *''A World of Islands'' (1993) Miscellaneous *''Midnight Clear: A Christmas Story'' (1978) *''Almost Heaven: Tales from a Cathedral'' (2010)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Leslie 1931 births 2014 deaths British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Newport, Wales Royal Army Pay Corps soldiers Welsh non-fiction writers Welsh journalists Welsh novelists Welsh travel writers 20th-century Welsh novelists