James Lansdale Hodson

James Lansdale Hodson OBE (1891–1956) was a British novelist, scriptwriter and journalist. He was a war correspondent and northern editor of the Daily Mail.[1]

Born in Bury, Lancashire in 1891, Hodson worked as a war correspondent during World War II, and he wrote a war diary that was published by Victor Gollancz as a series of 7 books; Through the Dark Night, Towards the Morning, Before Daybreak, 'War in the Sun, Home Front, And Yet I like America and The Sea and the Land.[1] He also wrote the official British film Desert Victory. He toured the United States from 1943-44, writing And Yet I Like America on his return.[2] His 1952 novel Morning Star had as its theme the freedom of the press in England.[3] His novel Return To The Wood (1955) became a play Hamp (by John Wilson)[4] and then a film King & Country (1964, directed by Joseph Losey and starring Dirk Bogarde).[5]

He died aged 65 on 28 August 1956 at Lewisham Hospital.[6]

  1. ^ a b James L. Hodson Archive Archived 31 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Manchester City Council
  2. ^ Calder, Robert (2004). Beware the British Serpent: The Role of Writers in British Propaganda in the United States, 1939-1945. McGill-Queen's Press. p. 87. ISBN 0773526889.
  3. ^ Whitman, Alden (25 May 1952). "Fleet Street Colossus; MORNING STAR. By James Lansdale Hodson. 375 pp. New York: Simon & Schuster". New York Times. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  4. ^ "Hamp".
  5. ^ Whetstone, David (16 March 2009). "Memories stirred for stage veteran". The Journal. Newcastle.
  6. ^ "British Novelist Dies". Los Angeles Times. 29 August 1956.