Lawrence du Garde Peach
| L. du Garde Peach | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lawrence du Garde Peach 14 February 1890 Sheffield, England |
| Died |
31 December 1974 (aged 84) Foolow in Derbyshire |
| Occupation | English author and playwright for radio, stage, and screen |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Manchester University; PhD at Sheffield University in 1921 |
| Notable works |
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| Notable awards |
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Lawrence du Garde Peach (14 February 1890 – 31 December 1974), who wrote under the name L. du Garde Peach, was an English author and playwright for radio, stage, and screen. He is probably best remembered as the author of over thirty works in the Adventure from History series of non-fiction books for children which was published by Ladybird Books between 1957 and his death in 1974. It was the largest series Ladybird produced, and remained in print until 1986.
Peach, the son of a Unitarian minister, was born in 1890 in Sheffield, and attended Manchester Grammar School and Manchester University before taking up a postgraduate position at University of Göttingen in 1912, later earning a PhD at Sheffield University in 1921 for a thesis on the development of drama in France, Spain and England in the 17th century. He married in 1915, and served in military intelligence during the First World War, reaching the rank of captain.
From the early 1920s, he began regularly writing humorous pieces for Punch and other magazines, and after a period as a lecturer at the University College of the South West of England (later to become the University of Exeter), Peach left academia to become a full-time writer. A major outlet was the then new medium of radio, for which he wrote his first play in 1924. Much of his work for radio dramatised history and biography, and became a staple of the Children's Hour strand for younger listeners.
He also wrote extensively for the stage, forming a close relationship with the Sheffield Playhouse, and from 1934 to 1936, he wrote for a number of films, ranging from horror The Ghoul (1933), The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936), and musical comedy Princess Charming (1934), Land Without Music (1936), to serious drama adaptations Turn of the Tide (1935), and the all-star spectacular Transatlantic Tunnel (1935). He turned down lucrative offers from Hollywood, preferring not to have to deal with all the whims of those in the production process. Frank Launder once claimed that he and Sidney Gilliat had to abandon "most of the script" for Seven Sinners (1936) and that Peach's "only virtue was speed."
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