R. C. Sherriff

Robert Cedric Sherriff (6 June 1896 – 13 November 1975) was an English writer best known for his play Journey's End, which was based on his experiences as a captain in World War I. He wrote several plays, novels, and screenplays, and was nominated for an Academy award and two BAFTA awards.

Early life
Sherriff was born in Hampton Wick, Middlesex to insurance clerk Herbert Hankin Sherriff and Constance Winder. Educated at Kingston Grammar School in Kingston upon Thames from 1905-1913, Sheriff maintained close links with his old school for the rest of his life, sending a copy of Journey's End to the school's headmaster after the play was first performed in 1928. R.C Sheriff remained a generous benefactor to the school until his death. In particular he paid close attention to the school rowing club, which now bears his name. With Sherriff’s support the Boat Club flourished. By 1957 there were over 70 members, with their own uniform and an annual dinner.The following year, having already financed a number of boats named after a string of successful plays, Sherriff purchased a piece of land at the end of Aragon Avenue in Thames Ditton for the purpose of building a School boathouse [2 ]. Completed in 1980, the building stands as a monument to the generosity and goodwill of R.C Sherriff.

After he left school Sheriff worked in an insurance office as a clerk (from 1914) and as an insurance adjuster (1918 to 1928) at Sun Insurance Company, London. Sherriff served (1915 to 1918) as a captain in the 9th East Surrey Regiment in World War I, serving at Vimy and Loos. He was severely wounded at Passchendaele near Ypres in 1917. He was awarded the Military Cross during the war.

Sherriff studied at New College, Oxford from 1931 to 1934. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Playwright
He first wrote a play to help Kingston Rowing Club raise money to buy a new boat. His seventh play, Journey's End, was written in 1928 and published in 1929 and was based on his experiences in the war. It was given a single Sunday performance, on 9 December 1928, by the Incorporated Stage Society at the Apollo Theatre, directed by James Whale and with the 21-year-old Laurence Olivier in the lead role. In the audience was Maurice Browne who produced it at the Savoy Theatre where it was performed for two years from 1929.

Novelist
Sherriff also wrote prose. His own novelised version of Journey's End was published in 1929. His 1939 novel, The Hopkins Manuscript is an H. G. Wells-influenced post-apocalyptic story about an earth devastated because of a collision with the Moon. Its sober language and realistic depiction of an average man coming to terms with a ruined England is said to have been an influence on later science fiction authors such as John Wyndham and Brian Aldiss. The Fortnight in September, an earlier novel, published in 1931, is a rather more plausible story about a Bognor holiday enjoyed by a lower-middle-class family from Dulwich.

Award nominations
Sherriff was nominated along with Eric Maschwitz and Claudine West for an Academy award for writing an adapted screenplay for Goodbye, Mr. Chips which was released in 1939. His 1955 screenplays, The Dam Busters and The Night My Number Came Up were nominated for best British screenplay BAFTA awards.

Plays

 * 1921: A Hitch in the Proceedings
 * 1922: The Woods of Meadowside
 * 1923: Profit and Loss
 * 1924: Cornlow-in-the-Downs
 * 1926: Mr. Bridie's Finger
 * 1928: Journey's End
 * 1930: Badger's Green
 * 1933: Windfall
 * 1934: Two Hearts Doubled
 * 1936: St Helena
 * 1948: Miss Mabel
 * 1949: Dark Evening
 * 1950: Home at Seven
 * 1952: The Kite
 * 1953: The White Carnation
 * 1955: The Long Sunset
 * 1957: The Telescope
 * 1961: A Shred of Evidence

Film scripts

 * 1933: The Invisible Man
 * 1934: One More River
 * 1937: The Road Back
 * 1939: Goodbye, Mr. Chips
 * 1939: The Four Feathers
 * 1941: Lady Hamilton
 * 1942: This Above All
 * 1945: Odd Man Out
 * 1948: Quartet
 * 1950: No Highway
 * 1955: The Dam Busters
 * 1955: The Night My Number Came Up
 * 1955:	Cards with Uncle Tom (TV)
 * 1963: The Ogburn Story (TV)

Books

 * (Reprinted in 2006 by Persephone Books)
 * (Revised and reissued as a Pan Paperback in 1958 under the title "The Cataclysm"; Reprinted in 2005 by Persephone Books)
 * (Revised and reissued as a Pan Paperback in 1958 under the title "The Cataclysm"; Reprinted in 2005 by Persephone Books)