Gordon Williams (writer)
Gordon Maclean Williams (20 June 1934 – 20 August 2017) was a British author of more than 20 novels. He also worked as a ghostwriter and a scriptwriter for films.
Gordon Williams | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gordon Maclean Williams 20 June 1934 |
| Died | 20 August 2017 (aged 83) |
| Other names | P. B. Yuill (with Terry Venables); Jack Lang |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable work | From Scenes Like These (1968) The Siege of Trencher's Farm (1969) |
Biography Edit
Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Williams was the son of a police constable who had moved south from Aberdeenshire. He was educated at the John Neilson Institution, leaving aged 16 to become a cub reporter for the Johnstone Advertiser.[1] Following national service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in Germany, he moved to London to work as a journalist. He wrote for television and was the author of several novels, including From Scenes Like These (1968), shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1969, Walk Don't Walk (1972) and Big Morning Blues (1974). Other early novels include The Camp (1966), The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1967) and The Upper Pleasure Garden (1970).
He was a ghostwriter for the autobiographies of association footballers Bobby Moore, Terry Venables and manager Tommy Docherty.
Williams' experiences in the RAF informed his second published novel, The Camp.[2] In 1971, his novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm was controversially filmed as Straw Dogs. Sam Peckinpah's cinematic treatment marked a watershed in the depiction of sexual violence in the cinema though the most controversial scenes are absent from the book. Other film work includes The Man Who Had Power Over Women, from his own novel, and Tree of Hands, as scriptwriter from a Ruth Rendell novel. Williams also wrote the book of Ridley Scott's film The Duellists.
In 1976, film producer Harry Saltzman employed Williams to rewrite the script for The Micronauts. Although the film was never made, Williams' novelisation was published in 1977; he subsequently wrote two sequels.
While working as commercial manager of association football club Chelsea, he renewed his collaboration with Venables, resulting in four co-written novels. From the novels grew the 1978 TV series Hazell, which the pair co-wrote under the shared pseudonym P. B. Yuill. Under the name Jack Lang, Williams also wrote paperbacks "for £300 a time".[1]
Williams declined director Bill Forsyth's invitation to write the script for the 1981 film Gregory's Girl.[1]
He died on 20 August 2017 at the age of 83.[3]
Bibliography Edit
- Non-fiction
- A Hundred Years of Protest and Progress, official history of the London Trades Council, 1860–1960, 1960
- Acker Bilk, biography; May Fair Books, 1962
- Novels
- The Last Day of Lincoln Charles; London: Secker & Warburg, 1965; New York: Stein & Day, 1966
- The Camp; London: Secker & Warburg, 1966; Allison & Busby, 1980
- The Man Who Had Power Over Women; London: Secker & Warburg, 1967; New York: Stein & Day, 1967
- The Hard Case (as Jack Lang); Mayflower, 1968
- From Scenes Like These; London: Secker & Warburg, 1968; New York: William Morrow, 1969; London: Allison & Busby, 1980 (in Growing up in the West, Canongate, 2003)
- The Biter (as Jack Lang); Mayflower, 1968
- The Siege of Trencher's Farm (filmed as Straw Dogs); London: Secker & Warburg, 1969; New York: William Morrow, 1969
- The Upper Pleasure Garden; London: Secker & Warburg, 1970; New York: William Morrow, 1970
- Walk Don't Walk; London: Quartet, 1973, Allison & Busby, 1980; New York: St Martin's Press, 1972
- The Bornless Keeper (as P. B. Yuill); Macmillan, 1974
- Big Morning Blues; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1974
- The Duellists (novelisation of Ridley Scott film based on screenplay by Gerald Vaughan-Hughes); London: Fontana, 1977
- Pomeroy, an American Diplomat; London: Michael Joseph, 1983
- With Terry Venables
- They Used to Play on Grass; London: Odhams, 1972
- Hazell Plays Solomon (as P. B. Yuill); Penguin, 1977
- Hazell and the Three Card Trick (as P. B. Yuill); Penguin, 1977
- Hazell and the Menacing Jester (as P. B. Yuill); Penguin, 1977
- Ghosted
- The Book of Soccer, edited by Bobby Moore;
- Denis Law's Book of Soccer;
- The Book of Soccer (Bobby Moore);
- My Soccer Story by Bobby Moore (autobiography);
- Thirteen Against the Bank, by Norman Leigh; Penguin, 1977
- Science fiction
- The Micronauts: New English Library, 1977; Bantam Books, August 1977
- The Microcolony: Bantam Books, 1979; U.K. title: Micronaut World; New English Library, June 1981
- Revolt of the Micronauts: Bantam Books, 1981; New English Library, 1981
- Contributor
- "The Horseshoe Inn", in Prevailing Spirits: A Book of Scottish Ghost Stories (Giles Gordon, ed.): Hamish Hamilton, 1976[4]
References Edit
- ^ a b c Williams, Gordon (14 October 1982). "From Scenes Like These: Scottish Writers Today: The end of a 20-year apprenticeship, but rupees are scarce in Soho". The Glasgow Herald. p. 9.
- ^ Tait, Bob (1981), Scots Apart: The Novels of James Kennoway and Gordon Williams, in Bold, Christine (ed.), Cencrastus No. 5, Summer 1981, pp. 20–22.
- ^ Taylor, D. J., "Gordon Williams obituary", The Guardian, 21 August 2017.
- ^ House, Jack (3 May 1976). "Books: The Ghost, the Soccer Star and the Half-Drunk Eejits..." Evening Times. p. 4.
External links Edit
- Gordon Williams at IMDb
- D. J. Taylor, "Gordon who?" (interview), The Guardian, 22 October 2003.