Anne Burnaby

Anne Burnaby Southwood (15 December 1922 – 1999) was a British screenwriter and playwright.[1][2]

Burnaby was the daughter of actor Davy Burnaby. She was married to John Southwood, a film publicist, with whom she had two children, in addition to having a third child with another partner. In June 1960, she was sentenced to 12 months in prison for stabbing Colonel Walter John Sparrow on the streets in April 1960 in Worthing, Sussex. Colonel Sparrow, an insurance businessman, was married to Burnaby's cousin and alleged she became obsessed with him.[3][4] He stated that she came to visit their home in 1958 and stayed for 18 months in the staff flat, attempting to break up his marriage.[5] At the time of the attack, she had been separated from her husband and was just released from a nursing home. The prosecutor cited her emotional disturbance in accepting a plea not of attempted murder but a lesser charge of wounding Sparrow with intent to do grievous bodily harm.[6]

  1. ^ British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference By Sue Harper, Vincent Porter p 79
  2. ^ "Anne Burnaby". BFI. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016.
  3. ^ "Writer Accused of Murder Bid". Worthing Gazette. 13 April 1960. p. 1. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  4. ^ "Stabbed Colonel in Street Says Prosecution – Anne Burnaby for Trial on Wounding Charge – Film Script Writer". Liverpool Echo. 22 April 1960. p. 3. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Anne Burnaby Talked About Her Revenge". Daily Herald - Saturday. 23 April 1960. p. 5. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  6. ^ "Woman Writer Stabbed Colonel - Goes to Jail". Worthing Gazette. 20 July 1960. p. 1. Retrieved 4 June 2023.