Victor Canning
Encyclopedia
Victor Canning was a prolific writer
of novel
s and thrillers who flourished in the 1950s, '60s
and '70s
, but whose reputation has faded since his death in 1986. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interview
s.
, Devon
, the eldest child of a coach builder, Fred Canning, and his wife May, née Goold. During World War I
his father served as an ambulance driver in France
and Flanders
, while he with his two sisters went to live in the village of Calstock
ten miles north of Plymouth, where his uncle Cecil Goold worked for the railways and later became station master. After the war the family returned to Plymouth. In the mid 1920s they moved to Oxford
where his father had found work, and Victor attended the Oxford Central School. Here he was encouraged to stay on at school and go to university
by a classical scholar, Dr. Henderson, but the family could not afford it and instead Victor went to work as a clerk in the education office at age 16.
Within three years he had started selling short stories
to boys’ magazine
s and in 1934, his first novel. Mr. Finchley
Discovers his England, was accepted by Hodder and Stoughton and became a runaway best seller. He gave up his job and started writing full time, producing thirteen more novels in the next six years under three different names. Lord Rothermere engaged him to write for the Daily Mail
, and a number of his travel articles for the Daily Mail were collected as a book with illustrations by Leslie Stead under the title Everyman's England in 1936. He also continued to write short stories.
He married Phyllis McEwen in 1935, a girl from a theatrical family whom he met while she was working with a touring vaudeville
production at Weston-super-Mare
. They had three daughters, Lindel born in 1939, Hilary born in 1940, and Virginia who was born in 1942, but died in infancy.
In 1940 he enlisted in the Army, and was sent for training with the Royal Artillery
in Llandrindod Wells
in mid-Wales, where he trained alongside his friend Eric Ambler
. Both were commissioned as second lieutenants in 1941. Canning worked in anti-aircraft batteries in the south of England until early 1943, when he was sent to North Africa
and took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily
and the Italian campaigns. At the end of the war he was assigned to an Anglo-American unit doing experimental work with radar
range-finding. It was top secret
work but nothing to do with espionage, though Canning never discouraged the assumption of publishers and reviewers that his espionage stories were partly based on experience. He was discharged in 1946 with the rank of major.
He resumed writing with The Chasm (1947), a novel about identifying a Nazi collaborator who has hidden himself in a remote Italian village. A film of this was planned but never finished. Canning’s next book, Panther’s Moon, was filmed as Spy Hunt, and from now on Canning was established as someone who could write a book a year in the suspense genre, have them reliably appear in book club and paperback editions on both sides of the Atlantic, be translated into the main European languages, and in many cases get filmed. He himself spent a year in Hollywood working on scripts for movies of his own books and on TV shows. The money earned from the film of The Golden Salamander (filmed with Trevor Howard
) meant that Canning could buy a substantial country house with some land in Kent, Marle Place, where he lived for nearly twenty years and where his daughter continues to live now. From the mid 1950s onwards his books became more conventional, full of exotic settings, stirring action sequences and stock characters. In 1965 he began a series of four books featuring a private detective called Rex Carver
, and these were among his most successful in sales terms.
Some time at the end of the '60s he began an affair with Diana Bird, the estranged wife of a solicitor living in the area, which led to his separation from Phyllis and leaving the family home in 1968 to settle in Devon. He had to wait five years for his divorce, and finally married Diana Bird in 1974. She died in February 1976. The six and a half years that they lived together were an extraordinarily productive period for him, containing almost all of his best work, including the first five of his ‘Birdcage’ novels, a trilogy of books for children starting with The Runaways, and the beginning of a trilogy retelling the legends of King Arthur, The Crimson Chalice.
Canning married Adria Irving-Bell in November 1976, and they moved to Gloucestershire and then Herefordshire, then back to Gloucestershire. He continued writing a book a year, and started to write radio plays, of which three were broadcast. He died in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. His last book, Table Number Seven, was completed by his wife Adria and his sister Jean. Adria Canning continued to live in Cirencester, and died there in April 2005.
Canning seems to have been a generous and friendly man, an accomplished sportsman, keen on golf and latterly on fishing, as attested by his daughter (personal interview), the many descriptions of fishing in the books and stories after 1968, and by his dedicating a book to the cartoonist Alex Graham as his golfing partner. His love of and knowledge of English countryside and wildlife pervades his early and late work. His middle period thrillers are mainly set overseas since “in England you can always call a policeman”, as he is reported to have said. In contrast, the ‘Birdcage’ books, beginning with Firecrest (1971) and including his masterpiece The Rainbird Pattern (1972) which was awarded the CWA Silver Dagger and nominated for the Edgar awards, were all far darker and more realistic than any of his earlier thrillers. They do not have conventional happy endings. The settings are mostly in the south of England, and the villains are often sinister government officials who crush the innocent bystanders who might expose them.
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
of novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s and thrillers who flourished in the 1950s, '60s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
and '70s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, but whose reputation has faded since his death in 1986. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
s.
Life
Canning was born in PlymouthPlymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, the eldest child of a coach builder, Fred Canning, and his wife May, née Goold. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
his father served as an ambulance driver in 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...
and Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
, while he with his two sisters went to live in the village of Calstock
Calstock
Calstock is civil parish and a large village in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the border with Devon. The village is situated on the River Tamar south west of Tavistock and north of Plymouth....
ten miles north of Plymouth, where his uncle Cecil Goold worked for the railways and later became station master. After the war the family returned to Plymouth. In the mid 1920s they moved to Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
where his father had found work, and Victor attended the Oxford Central School. Here he was encouraged to stay on at school and go to university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
by a classical scholar, Dr. Henderson, but the family could not afford it and instead Victor went to work as a clerk in the education office at age 16.
Within three years he had started selling short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
to boys’ magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s and in 1934, his first novel. Mr. Finchley
Mr. Finchley
Mr. Finchley is a fictional character in three comic novels by Victor Canning, a novelist who later gained great success with thrillers. He first appears in Canning's very first book, Mr. Finchley Discovers his England, published in 1934 and as Mr...
Discovers his England, was accepted by Hodder and Stoughton and became a runaway best seller. He gave up his job and started writing full time, producing thirteen more novels in the next six years under three different names. Lord Rothermere engaged him to write for 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...
, and a number of his travel articles for the Daily Mail were collected as a book with illustrations by Leslie Stead under the title Everyman's England in 1936. He also continued to write short stories.
He married Phyllis McEwen in 1935, a girl from a theatrical family whom he met while she was working with a touring vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
production at Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
. They had three daughters, Lindel born in 1939, Hilary born in 1940, and Virginia who was born in 1942, but died in infancy.
In 1940 he enlisted in the Army, and was sent for training with the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
in Llandrindod Wells
Llandrindod Wells
Llandrindod Wells , colloquially known locally as "Llandod", is a town and community in Powys, within the historic boundaries of Radnorshire, mid Wales, United Kingdom. It was developed as a spa town in the 19th century, with a boom in the late 20th century as a centre of local government. Before...
in mid-Wales, where he trained alongside his friend Eric Ambler
Eric Ambler
Eric Clifford Ambler OBE was an influential British author of spy novels who introduced a new realism to the genre. Ambler also used the pseudonym Eliot Reed for books co-written with Charles Rodda.-Life:...
. Both were commissioned as second lieutenants in 1941. Canning worked in anti-aircraft batteries in the south of England until early 1943, when he was sent to North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and took part in the Allied invasion of Sicily
Allied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis . It was a large scale amphibious and airborne operation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.Husky began on the night of...
and the Italian campaigns. At the end of the war he was assigned to an Anglo-American unit doing experimental work with radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
range-finding. It was top secret
Top Secret
Top Secret generally refers to the highest acknowledged level of classified information.Top Secret may also refer to:- Film and television :* Top Secret , a British comedy directed by Mario Zampi...
work but nothing to do with espionage, though Canning never discouraged the assumption of publishers and reviewers that his espionage stories were partly based on experience. He was discharged in 1946 with the rank of major.
He resumed writing with The Chasm (1947), a novel about identifying a Nazi collaborator who has hidden himself in a remote Italian village. A film of this was planned but never finished. Canning’s next book, Panther’s Moon, was filmed as Spy Hunt, and from now on Canning was established as someone who could write a book a year in the suspense genre, have them reliably appear in book club and paperback editions on both sides of the Atlantic, be translated into the main European languages, and in many cases get filmed. He himself spent a year in Hollywood working on scripts for movies of his own books and on TV shows. The money earned from the film of The Golden Salamander (filmed with Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard
Trevor Howard , born Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, was an English film, stage and television actor.-Early life:...
) meant that Canning could buy a substantial country house with some land in Kent, Marle Place, where he lived for nearly twenty years and where his daughter continues to live now. From the mid 1950s onwards his books became more conventional, full of exotic settings, stirring action sequences and stock characters. In 1965 he began a series of four books featuring a private detective called Rex Carver
Rex Carver
Rex Carver is a fictional British private eye created by the prolific writer Victor Canning. He appeared in 5 fast-paced, irreverently narrated novels in the 1960s. Although strictly a private eye, Carver knows a number of people who work for a shadowy British undercover agency and he frequently...
, and these were among his most successful in sales terms.
Some time at the end of the '60s he began an affair with Diana Bird, the estranged wife of a solicitor living in the area, which led to his separation from Phyllis and leaving the family home in 1968 to settle in Devon. He had to wait five years for his divorce, and finally married Diana Bird in 1974. She died in February 1976. The six and a half years that they lived together were an extraordinarily productive period for him, containing almost all of his best work, including the first five of his ‘Birdcage’ novels, a trilogy of books for children starting with The Runaways, and the beginning of a trilogy retelling the legends of King Arthur, The Crimson Chalice.
Canning married Adria Irving-Bell in November 1976, and they moved to Gloucestershire and then Herefordshire, then back to Gloucestershire. He continued writing a book a year, and started to write radio plays, of which three were broadcast. He died in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. His last book, Table Number Seven, was completed by his wife Adria and his sister Jean. Adria Canning continued to live in Cirencester, and died there in April 2005.
Canning seems to have been a generous and friendly man, an accomplished sportsman, keen on golf and latterly on fishing, as attested by his daughter (personal interview), the many descriptions of fishing in the books and stories after 1968, and by his dedicating a book to the cartoonist Alex Graham as his golfing partner. His love of and knowledge of English countryside and wildlife pervades his early and late work. His middle period thrillers are mainly set overseas since “in England you can always call a policeman”, as he is reported to have said. In contrast, the ‘Birdcage’ books, beginning with Firecrest (1971) and including his masterpiece The Rainbird Pattern (1972) which was awarded the CWA Silver Dagger and nominated for the Edgar awards, were all far darker and more realistic than any of his earlier thrillers. They do not have conventional happy endings. The settings are mostly in the south of England, and the villains are often sinister government officials who crush the innocent bystanders who might expose them.
Works
- Mr. Finchley Discovers his England (1934)
- Polycarp’s Progress (1935)
- Fly Away Paul (1936)
- Two Men Fought (1936), writing as Alan Gould
- Everyman’s England (1936), illustrations by Leslie Stead
- Matthew Silverman (1937)
- Mercy Lane (1937), writing as Alan Gould
- Mr. Finchley Goes to Paris (1938)
- Sanctuary from the Dragon (1938), writing as Alan Gould
- The Wooden Angel (1938), writing as Julian Forest
- Fountain Inn (1939)
- Every Creature of God is Good (1939), writing as Alan Gould
- The Viaduct (1939), writing as Alan Gould
- Mr. Finchley Takes the Road (1940)
- Atlantic Company (1940), writing as Alan Gould
- Beggar’s Bush (1940), stage play produced in Harrogate
- Green Battlefield (1943)
- The Chasm (1947)
- Panther’s Moon (1948) US Hunter's Moon — filmed in 1950 as Spy Hunt
- The Golden Salamander (1949) — filmed in 1950
- A Forest of Eyes (1950)
- Venetian Bird (1950) US Bird of Prey — filmed in 1952
- House of the Seven Flies (1952) US House of the Seven Hawks — filmed in 1959
- The Man from the Turkish Slave (1954)
- Castle Minerva (1954) US A Handful of Silver — filmed in 1964
- His Bones are Coral (1955) US Twist of the Knife — filmed in 1970 as Shark!Shark! (film)Shark! is a 1969 American action film directed by Samuel Fuller and starring Burt Reynolds. The film was based on the Victor Canning novel His Bones are Coral with the original screeplay written by Ken Hughes...
- The Hidden Face (1956) US Burden of Proof
- The Manasco Road (1957) US The Forbidden Road
- The Dragon Tree (1958) US The Captives of Mora Island
- Young Man on a Bicycle (1958) — collection of novellas - US Oasis Nine
- The Burning Eye (1960)
- A Delivery of Furies (1961)
- Black Flamingo (1962)
- Delay on Turtle (1962) — collection of novellas
- The Limbo Line (1963) — filmed in 1968
- The Scorpio Letters (1964) — filmed in 1966
- The Whip Hand (1965) — the first Rex CarverRex CarverRex Carver is a fictional British private eye created by the prolific writer Victor Canning. He appeared in 5 fast-paced, irreverently narrated novels in the 1960s. Although strictly a private eye, Carver knows a number of people who work for a shadowy British undercover agency and he frequently...
book - Doubled in Diamonds (1966) - the second Rex Carver book
- The Python Project (1967) - the third Rex Carver book
- The Melting Man (1968) - the fourth Rex Carver book
- Queen’s Pawn (1969)
- The Great Affair (1970)
- Firecrest (1971)
- The Rainbird Pattern (1972) - filmed in 1976
- The Runaways (1972) (part 1 of the Smiler trilogy)
- The Finger of Saturn (1973)
- Flight of the grey goose (1973) (part 2 of the Smiler trilogy)
- The Mask of Memory (1974)
- The Painted Tent (1974) (part 3 of the Smiler trilogy)
- The Kingsford Mark (1975)
- The Doomsday Carrier (1976)
- The Crimson Chalice (1976) (part 1 of the Arthurian trilogy)
- The Circle of the Gods (1977) (part 2 of the Arthurian trilogy)
- The Immortal Wound (1978) (part 3 of the Arthurian trilogy)
- Birdcage (1978)
- The Satan Sampler (1979)
- Fall From Grace (1980)
- The Boy on Platform One (1981)
- Vanishing Point (1982)
- Raven’s Wind (1983)
- Birds of a Feather (novel) (1985)
- Table Number Seven (1987) — completed by his wife and sister
- Comedies and Whimsies (2007) - collection of short stories
- The Minerva Club, The Department of Patterns and Dr. Kang (2009) - collection of short stories
Sources
Article by Graham Lord, "The crazy gamble that made Victor famous", in the Sunday Express, 10 August 1975. Interview from the Western Daily Press published on 6 February 1976. Obituaries in The Times of 27 February 1986 and The Daily Telegraph of 28 February 1986, an article, "Victor Canning: popular and now very collectable author of thrillers, comic novels, and mysteries." Book and Magazine Collector No. 32, November 1986, pages 41 – 47, and extended interviews with his sister, Mrs. Jean Tearle, his eldest daughter, Mrs. Lindel Williams, and his literary executor, Mr Charles Collingwood.External links
- Full biography and bibliography by John Higgins
- SCORPIO ROOMS: Victor Canning on TV by Tise Vahimagi
- The Rainbird Pattern influences