John Antrobus
| John Antrobus | |
|---|---|
| Born |
2 July 1933 Aldershot, Hampshire, England |
| Occupation | Screenwriter and playwright. |
| Period | 1956–2010 |
| Genre | Comedy, drama, adventure |
| Spouse | Margaret McCormick |
John Antrobus (born 2 July 1933) is an English playwright and script writer. He has written extensively for stage, screen, TV and radio, including the epic World War II play, Crete and Sergeant Pepper at the Royal Court. He authored the children's book series Ronnie, which includes Help! I am a Prisoner in a Toothpaste Factory
John Antrobus was born in Aldershot, Hampshire. His father was a Regimental Sergeant-Major in the Royal Horse Artillery, and the family was stationed at the School of Artillery in Larkhill, on the edge of Salisbury Plain. Antrobus attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst to finish his education, but rebelled and dropped out of the Army.
After leaving the Army, John Antrobus pursued a future writing comedy, and went to Associated London Scripts (ALS), the writers cooperative set up by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes. Antrobus states "I met Spike in 1954 or 55. I had sent a sample script to Galton and Simpson and they took me on at Associated London Scripts". Antrobus and Milligan "wrote a couple of Goon Shows together. I wish I had done more of them with him but I wanted to be a playwright. I didn't realise they were golden times and how they gave life". The two shows were The Spon Plague, and The Great Statue Debate, both broadcast in March 1958.
At ALS, Antrobus also worked with Johnny Speight on The Frankie Howerd Show in 1956, After contributing material to the first Carry On movie, Carry On Sergeant (1958), he wrote his first movie screenplay: for Idle on Parade (1959), starring Anthony Newley. During 1960 he worked with Milligan and Sykes in the second series of Sykes and A... (August- September 1960). He was also a contributing writer to the television series The Army Game, in the 1958 and 1961 shows, along with Larry Stephens, Maurice Wiltshire, and Lew Schwarz in 1958, and Brad Ashton, Barry Took, Marty Feldman and Wilshire in 1961. During the 1960s and 1970s, he provided scripts for television series as diverse as That Was the Week That Was,Television Playhouse and Spike Milligan's Milligan in... Antrobus wrote for Milligan's last radio series, The Milligan Papers, a BBC Radio Collection released in 2002. Milligan claimed he didn't actually like Antrobus.
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