John Joy Bell
Encyclopedia
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. Born in Hillhead
Hillhead
Hillhead is a district of Glasgow, Scotland. Situated north of Kelvingrove Park and to the south of the River Kelvin, Hillhead is at the heart of Glasgow's fashionable West End, with Byres Road forming the western border of the area, the other boundaries being Dumbarton Road to the south and the...
, Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Bell was schooled at Kelvinside Academy
Kelvinside Academy
Kelvinside Academy is a private school in the City of Glasgow, Scotland, founded in 1878. It has a capacity of 640 pupils and spans two years of Junior Start , six years of Junior School , and seven years of Senior School , comprising fifteen years in all...
and Morrison's Academy
Morrison's Academy
Morrison's Academy is an independent co-educational school in Crieff, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary school facilities. All who attend are day pupils and it draws many pupils from surrounding Perth and Kinross and Stirling....
. He attended the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
, where he studied chemistry. After becoming a journalist, Bell worked for the Glasgow Evening Times, and as sub-editor of the Scots Pictorial. His articles described the life of working-class Glaswegians, and were often written in the vernacular. He created the character of 'MacGreegor' for his Evening Times articles, and the stories were so popular that they were published in book form, and later made into a film.
Bell has often been criticised for being overly sentimental, but it is also said that his vernacular was accurately representative, which is partly what made them popular. During recent years though, Bell's books are increasingly neglected.
Publications
- Wee Macgreegor, 1903.
- Wee Macgreegor Again
- Later Adventures of Wee Macgreegor, 1904.
- Mistress McLeerie, 1904.
- Jess & Co., 1904
- A Kingdom of Dreams, 1911
- I Remember, Porpoise Press, Edinburgh, 1932
- The Glory of Scotland, George G. Harrap, 1932
- Scotland's Rainbow West, 1933.
- Oh! Christina!
- Courtin' Christina
- Wee Macgreegor Enlists
- Till The Clock Stops, ISBN 1-4191-9012-1
- Good Morning, Sir John! A play in one act
- Mr. Pennycook's boy
- Do you remember?
- On the Quay (poem)
- Beyond London Lights