Graham Lord
Encyclopedia
Graham Lord is a British biographer and novelist. His biographies include those of Jeffrey Bernard
, James Herriot
, Dick Francis
, Arthur Lowe
, David Niven
, John Mortimer
and Joan Collins
. He was the literary editor of the Sunday Express
for 23 years.
, raised in Mozambique
, educated at Falcon College
, Southern Rhodesia
and took an honours degree in History at Cambridge University, where he edited the university newspaper Varsity
.
After working briefly for the Cambridge Evening News
, in 1965 he joined the Sunday Express in London as a reporter and feature writer, where he went on to spend 23 years as Literary Editor, wrote a weekly column about books and interviewed almost every major English language author of the 1960s to 1990s, from P. G. Wodehouse
and Graham Greene
to Muriel Spark
and Ruth Rendell
. From 1982 to 1988 he was vice-chairman of Newbury Mencap
, from 1985 to 1987 he represented the Lambourn Valley as an elected Conservative councillor on Newbury District Council, and in 1987 he launched the £20,000 Sunday Express Book of the Year Award. After leaving the Sunday Express in 1992 to become a full-time author, he wrote regularly for The Daily Telegraph
, The Times
and the Daily Mail
. From 1994 to 1996, he edited the short story magazine Raconteur.
He has also published an autobiographical portrait of Mozambique
and Zimbabwe
, eight novels, and five short stories; his books have been translated into French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Russian and Chinese.
Graham Lord now lives with the artist Juliet Lewis on the island of Nevis
in the West Indies and in the South of France
.
Jeffrey Bernard
Jeffrey Bernard was a British journalist, best known for his weekly column "Low Life" in the Spectator magazine, and also notorious for a feckless and chaotic career and life of alcohol abuse. He became associated with the louche and bohemian atmosphere that existed in London's Soho district...
, James Herriot
James Herriot
James Herriot was the pen name of James Alfred Wight, OBE, FRCVS also known as Alf Wight , an English veterinary surgeon and writer, who used his many years of experiences as a veterinarian to write a series of books of stories about animals and their owners...
, Dick Francis
Dick Francis
Richard Stanley "Dick" Francis CBE was an English jockey and crime writer, many of whose novels centre around horse racing.- Personal life :...
, Arthur Lowe
Arthur Lowe
Arthur Lowe was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. He was best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977.-Early life:...
, David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
, John Mortimer
John Mortimer
Sir John Clifford Mortimer, CBE, QC was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author.-Early life:...
and Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...
. He was the literary editor of the Sunday Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
for 23 years.
Life
Lord was born in Southern RhodesiaSouthern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
, raised in Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, educated at Falcon College
Falcon College
Falcon College is a private institution of higher learning for boys aged 12–18 in the southern Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe. It was founded in 1954 near Esigodini , 55 km southeast of Bulawayo on the remains of the Bushtick Mine...
, Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
and took an honours degree in History at Cambridge University, where he edited the university newspaper Varsity
Varsity (Cambridge)
Varsity is the oldest of Cambridge University's main student newspapers. It has been published continuously since 1947, and is one of only three fully independent student newspapers in the UK. It appears every Friday around Cambridge...
.
After working briefly for the Cambridge Evening News
Cambridge Evening News
The Cambridge News is a British daily newspaper published each weekday and on Saturdays. It is distributed from its parent company Cambridge Newspapers Ltd's Milton base which was opened in 1991 as a print works, and became the Evening News main operational hub in 1998...
, in 1965 he joined the Sunday Express in London as a reporter and feature writer, where he went on to spend 23 years as Literary Editor, wrote a weekly column about books and interviewed almost every major English language author of the 1960s to 1990s, from P. G. Wodehouse
P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
and Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
to Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark
Dame Muriel Spark, DBE was an award-winning Scottish novelist. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".-Early life:...
and Ruth Rendell
Ruth Rendell
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, , who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, is an English crime writer, author of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries....
. From 1982 to 1988 he was vice-chairman of Newbury Mencap
Mencap
The Royal Mencap Society is a charity based in the UK that works with people with a learning disability.-Profile:Mencap is the UK's leading learning disability charity working with people with a learning disability and their families and carers...
, from 1985 to 1987 he represented the Lambourn Valley as an elected Conservative councillor on Newbury District Council, and in 1987 he launched the £20,000 Sunday Express Book of the Year Award. After leaving the Sunday Express in 1992 to become a full-time author, he wrote regularly for The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
and the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
. From 1994 to 1996, he edited the short story magazine Raconteur.
He has also published an autobiographical portrait of Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, eight novels, and five short stories; his books have been translated into French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Russian and Chinese.
Graham Lord now lives with the artist Juliet Lewis on the island of Nevis
Nevis
Nevis is an island in the Caribbean Sea, located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, about 350 km east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 km west of Antigua. The 93 km² island is part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies...
in the West Indies and in the South of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Biographies
- Just The One: The Wives and Times of Jeffrey Bernard, Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992
- James Herriot: The Life of a Country Vet, Headline, 1997.
- Dick Francis: A Racing Life, Little, Brown & Co, 1999
- Arthur Lowe, Orion, 2001
- Niv: The Authorised Biography of David Niven, Orion, 2004
- John Mortimer: The Devil's Advocate - The Unauthorised Biography, Orion, 2005
- Joan Collins: The Biography of an Icon, Orion, 2007
Novels
- Marshmallow Pie, Macmillan, 1970
- A Roof Under Your Feet, Macdonald, 1973
- The Spider and the Fly, Hamish Hamilton, 1974
- God and All His Angels, Hamish Hamilton, 1976
- The Nostradamus Horoscope, Hutchinson, 1981
- Time Out of Mind, Hamish Hamilton, 1986
- A Party to Die For, Little, Brown & Co, 1997
- Sorry - We're Going to Have to Let You Go, Little, Brown & Co, 1999