From Journey’s End to The Dam Busters (Hardback)
The Life of R.C. Sherriff, Playwright of the Trenches
Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
Pages: 288
Illustrations: 30
ISBN: 9781473860698
Published: 20th October 2016
National Publicity
Is R C Sherriff Britain's best war-story writer? An article for The Telegraph by Roland Wales
As featured in the Daily Mail and The Times
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Kingston playwright R.C. Sherriff came to fame with his First World War drama Journey’s End, which was based on his own experiences as a young officer on the Western Front. Its success made him a household name and opened the door to a highly lucrative career as a novelist, playwright and screenwriter in Hollywood and in Britain.
Many of his movies – The Invisible Man, Goodbye Mr Chips, The Four Feathers, Odd Man Out, Quartet, and, of course, The Dam Busters – are still well known, but the man behind them much less so. This book rediscovers Sherriff using his own words – his letters, diaries, published and unpublished manuscripts – to shed light on a man who ironically gained his greatest success from the trench warfare he found so difficult to bear.
Review as featured in
The New York Times
Read the full article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/02/books/review/r-c-sherriff-the-hopkins-manuscript.html
As featured on History of War
History of War
As featured in
Stand To! Journal of the Western Front Association
This excellent book deals with Sherriff the soldier in the first instance before progressing to his successful career as a playwright, author and screenwriter... To my mind this helps advance the book into the short list of superior reads from the Great War centenary blitz that will soon come to a thankful end.
War History Online
Read the full review here
As featured in
The Telegraph 05/04/18
As featured in
essence (Surrey), March 2018
From Journey's End to the Dambusters is a fine and important account of a hugely successful career which grew from a singular man's experience of war.
Stand To! Western Front Assc No.110
Roland Wale's book is a fine record of a fascinating man.
A meticulously researched, factual and entertaining read. Shows R C Sherriff in a totally new light - it gives far more depth to him as a playwright, author and man. I love the way it show both the successes and failures too. A "must" for anyone interested in R C Sherriff!
Amazon Reviewer
Superb account of a very good writer best known for one play but whose achievements were many and varied. Exhaustively researched, well written, a real delight. It looks at his unproduced scripts as well. I loved this.
Amazon Reviewer US
The book developed as it progressed into a really insightful analysis of Sherriff's work and motivations. Starting as almost a detective story of his early life and career- obscured by his autobiography in part - it moved onto a description of his literary biography before finally examining the pressures on a writer who became unfashionable before he ran out of creative intent. Compelling picture of the man.
Amazon Reviewer
The play Journey's End was performed everywhere during the inter-war years but there was much more to the author than that, and you can read all about him in this welcome new biography.
This England, Spring 2017
As featured on Dove Grey Reader.
Dovgreyreader Scribbles
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. A thoroughly researched and clearly written account of one of the finest playwrights and screenwriters of the 20th Century. The insight Wales brings to Sherriff's life is long overdue, the life itself fascinating and the story of that life told in eminently readable form. It deserves to be widely read.
TomT, Amazon Reviewer
Roland Wales clearly has great affection for his subject, as he charts R C Sherriff’s life and career as a successful writer; principally of plays, film scripts and novels. However, it is not an uncritical appreciation. Wales’ meticulous research puts Sherriff in clear context with the events around him and how they in turn influenced and were reflected in his actions, even when Sherriff’s own autobiography often chose to go with a good story when the truth was at odds with his own preferred plot. But Wales has taken a lead from Sherriff’s own ability to entertain, in creating a fascinating record of a man who found early celebrity status through his smash hit play “Journey’s End” but never really fully fitted into Hollywood’s celebrity lifestyle. R C Sherriff’s legacy lives on, not only in the body of his work but in the funding his legacy provides for sports and arts in the area around Kingston Upon Thames. It is a story well told and worth reading. Recommended.
ThamesAngle, Amazon Reviewer
As featured in
Woking News & Mail
A comprehensive account of the life of R C Sherriff, junior officer
Firetrench
and famous writer. One of the WWI survivors who made a lucrative career as a novelist, playwright and screenwriter. His movie work is still very well known but not the man. This book provides a full picture – great read.
Read the full review here.
As reviewed in
Essence Magazine
As featured in
Exploring Surrey's Past
As featured in.
The Times
As featured in.
The Daily Mail
About Roland Wales
Roland Wales worked as an economist at the Bank of England for many years, and then as Policy Director at the Labour Party. He became interested in R.C. Sherriff when his two sons attended Sherriff’s old school, Kingston Grammar, and he became Chair of the parents’ support group for rowing – the Sherriff Club. He produced several Sherriff-themed theatrical nights, and worked closely with the Surrey History Centre in their successful bid for Heritage Lottery Fund support of the Sherriff Archive, including writing a well reviewed play, How Like It All Is, examining the links between Sherriff’s wartime experiences and his subsequent work.
The Journey's End Battalion The 9th East Surrey in the Great War (Hardback)
R.C. Sherriff, author of Journey's End, the most famous play of the Great War, saw all his frontline service with the 9th Battalion East Surrey Regiment. This intense experience profoundly affected his writing and, through his play, it continues to have a powerful influence on our understanding of the conflict. Yet the story of his battalion – known as 'The Gallants' after the bravery it displayed during the Battle of Loos – has never been told in full until now. In The Journey's End Battalion, Michael Lucas gives a vivid account of its history. Using official and unofficial sources, diaries,…
By Michael LucasClick here to buy both titles for £44.99
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