John Bowen

John Griffith Bowen, born in Calcutta, India, was a British playwright and novelist. Bowen was the son of a British business manager working in India. He spent much of his childhood in England but returned to India during World War II, serving as a captain in the Maratha Light Infantry (1943–47). After attending Pembroke and St. Anthony’s College, Oxford (B.A., 1951; M.A., 1952), he went to Ohio State University for a year’s study. While there, he was revolted by the investigations of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. That experience inspired his first novel, The Truth Will Not Help Us (1956).

Back in England, Bowen worked in journalism and advertising (1953–60) and was a television drama consultant for Associated Television (1960–67). His early scripts for television films were A Holiday Abroad (1960), The Essay Prize (1960), The Candidate (1961), and The Jackpot Question (1961). He also wrote the TV programs The Guardians (1971), and Heil Caesar! (1973). Bowen adapted Noël Coward’s script for the film Brief Encounter (1946) for television in 1974. It starred Richard Burton and Sophia Loren. He cocreated (with David Cook) the television series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996–98).

Bowen was a prolific producer of stage drama as well. I Love You, Mrs. Patterson (1964), After the Rain (1966), adapted from Bowen’s 1958 novel of that name, Little Boxes (1968), The Disorderly Women (1969), and The Corsican Brothers (1970). Later plays included Spot the Lady (1981), The Oak Tree Tea-Room Siege (1990), and Cold Salmon (1998). Bowen also maintained a steady output of novels. Among them were Storyboard (1960), The McGuffin (1984), The Girls: A Story of Village Life (1986), Fighting Back (1989), and The Precious Gift (1992).

Source: Britannica