Peter Tinniswood

Peter Tinniswood was an English radio and TV comedy scriptwriter, and author of a series of popular novels. He was born in Liverpool, but grew up above a dry cleaner's on Eastway in Sale, Cheshire.

Early career

Tinniswood attended Sale Boys' Grammar School. His career began in journalism. He spent four years in Sheffield from 1958, first working for The Star and then for the Sheffield Telegraph, where he was a leader writer and specialised in feature writing. He won widespread admiration for a week-long series Travels with a Donkey, an account of a tramp round the Peak District with a reluctant donkey.

Television and radio

In 1964, Tinniswood collaborated with his long-term writing partner David Nobbs on the BBC sketch show The Frost Report and the comedy Lance At Large, a sitcom starring Lance Percival in which Percival's character, Alan Day, was involved in different scenarios and meeting different people in each episode. The short-lived ITV series Never Say Die drew on Tinniswood's days as a hospital porter. Set in Victoria Memorial Hospital, the show derived much of its comedy from the interactions between patients and staff. It starred Reginald Marsh and Patrick Newell.
Tinniswood based the BBC comedy I Didn't Know You Cared on his novels. Featuring the Brandons, a dour northern family, the programme ran until 1979, and featured Liz Smith, Robin Bailey, John Comer and Stephen Rea. In 1980, the BBC produced a series based on other Tinniswood books, featuring the character the Brigadier, an erstwhile cricketer and latterly raconteur, played by Robin Bailey. Some of the stories were adapted for BBC Radio 4. The series was remade in 1985 for Channel 4.
For ITV in 1983, Tinniswood wrote The Home Front, again set in the north of England. It starred Brenda Bruce as Mrs Place, a nosey, arrogant mother who lorded it over her three children. Two years later ITV produced Mog, based on Tinniswood's 1970 novel and starring Enn Reitel as the title character. The episodes were written by Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement, but it was not a success. Also in 1985, was South Of The Border starring Brian Glover as Edgar Rowley, a Yorkshireman forced to migrate to the south of England.
In later years, Tinniswood's output was mostly for Radio 4 and included the continuing adventures of Uncle Mort and Carter Brandon in Uncle Mort's North Country, Uncle Mort's South Country and Uncle Mort's Celtic Fringe and a series about poacher Winston Hayballs, his "bit of fluff" Nancy and her family adapted from his novel "Winston". Liz Goulding, his second wife, played Rosie.
A lifelong pipe smoker, Peter Tinniswood died of throat cancer at the age of 66. Since his death, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain and the Society of Authors have jointly administered in his memory the annual Tinniswood Award, to honour the best original radio drama script broadcast in the UK during the previous year, with a prize of £3,000 for the winner.

TV credits

That Was The Week That Was The Dick Emery Show Lance At Large The Frost Report Roy Hudd Never Say Die I Didn't Know You Cared Tales From A Long Room The Home Front Mog South Of The Border Tales From A Long Room

''Duck Patrol''

Novels and other fiction

Source:
The Brandon Family series:A Touch Of Daniel – Winner of the Author's Club First Novel Award and Book of the Month choiceMog I Didn't Know You Cared – Winner of the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize from the Royal Society of Literature for best regional novel.Except You're A Bird The Home Front Call it a Canary Uncle Mort’s North Country Uncle Mort’s South Country
Cricketing Tales and Sketches:
.Tales From A Long Room More Tales From A Long Room Collected Tales From A Long Room – a compilation of the above two titlesThe Brigadier Down Under The Brigadier In Season The Brigadier’s Brief Lives The Brigadier’s Tour The Brigadier's Collection – a compilation of 'The Brigadier’s Brief Lives’ and 'The Brigadier’s Tour’Tales from Witney Scrotum Witney Scrotum – despite a similar title to the above, this is a different set of stories
Hayballs and its sequel:Hayballs Winston
Others:The Stirk Of Stirk Shemerelda Dolly’s War
The books listed above under the heading Cricketing Tales And Sketches contain short stories and other humorous pieces as shown here:

#	Tales From A Long Room	More Tales From A Long Room	The Brigadier Down Under	The Brigadier In Season	Tales From Witney Scrotum	Witney Scrotum
1	Root's Boot	Witney Scrotum	The Explanation	The Start of the Season	The Dedication	The Commodore
2	Our Own Dear Queen	The Boys of Summer	The Landfall	Stumped!	The Introduction	Mentioned in Dispatches
3	The Ditherers	Batman	First Impressions	A Day in the Life of	Hitting the Truth	Slakehouse
4	'Blackstop'	Five Non-Cricketers	A Day Out	Harold Salisbury	A Walk with Miss Roebuck	Himmelweit Revisited
5	What Do I Mean By?	Sibson	Before The Match	A Glimpse into the Future	The Third Man	In Dock
6	The Lady Wife	The Royal Wedding	First Dispatches From The Front	The Party	Souvenirs	Mitchell Dever
7	The Groundsman's Horse	Hard Times	Kingsley Kunzel	Carry on Goering	Tour de Force	The Trusty Old Lanchester
8	Mendip-Hughes	The Mole	Second Dispatches From The Front	The Holy Father	Famous Sons	Split Runciman
9	Cricketers' Cook Book	Apartheid	The Lady Wife Down Under	"Looknow" Hobson	Another Bloody Wife	Alternative Cricket
10	Polar Games	Blofeld Revisited	A Visit To Naunton	Miss Roebuck's Diaries: The Journals of a Cricketing Spinster	The Half Century	What-Ho, Vileness
11	The Ones That Got Away	Cricket Ahoy	Third Dispatches From The Front	The Brigadier in Season	The Great Day	Beryl
12	I Was There		The Return		Stop Press	The Bird Tapes
13	Incident at Frome					When Winter Comes
14						Farewell, My Lovelies
15						The Perfect Day
16						Cricketers' Quiz

Collected Tales From A Long Room – stories 1–13 are the same as 1–13 in Tales From A Long Room; stories 14–24 are the same as 1–11 in More Tales From A Long Room.
The Brigadier’s Brief Lives – contains the following short sketches:

Miss Petula Clark
Lord Carrington
Mr Rupert Murdoch
Mr Richard Baker
Sir John Mills
Mr Ray Buckton
Mr E. W. Swanton
Lord Wilson
Mr Kevin Keegan
Mr Norman St John Stevas
Sir Douglas Bader
Mr Roy Jenkins
Sir Robin Day
Miss Jan Leeming
Prince Philip
Mr Andrew Lloyd-Webber
Lord Goodman
Miss Jilly Cooper
The Duke of Westminster
Mr David Frost
Mr Laurie McMenamy
The Village Tea Lady
Miss Esther Tantzen
Andrew Previn
Lord Lichfield
Mr Geoffrey Boycott
Mrs Mary Whitehouse
Sir Richard Attenborough
Mr Robert Robinson
Mr Winston Churchill
Lord Longford
Mr Michael Parkinson
Mr Terry Wogan
Mr David Attenborough
Mr Roy Plomley
Mr Sebastian Coe
Miss Pamela Stephenson
Mr Arthur Scargill
Mr Roy Hattersley
Mr Ian Paisley
Cardinal Hume
Mr Ian Botham
Mr Michael Foot
Mr H. D. 'Dicky' Bird
Mr Frank Muir
Earl Spencer
Mr Jimmy Hill
Mr Leon Brittan
Mr Jimmy Savile OBE
Miss Elizabeth Jane Howard
Mr Tony Benn
Mr Tom Stoppard
Mr Bob Willis
Mr Barry Took
Miss Britt Ekland
Sir Peter Hall
Sir Geoffrey Howe
Mr James Cameron
Lord Lucan
Mr Ned Sherrin
The Archbishop of Canterbury
Princess Margaret
Miss Jean Rook
Mr Norman Tebbitt
Mr Mick Jagger
Mr Patrick Moore
Doctor David Owen
Mr Jimmy Young
Sir Anthont Blunt
Mr Clive Jenkins
Mr Enoch Powell
Lady Falklander
Miss Jan Morris
Mr Ludovic Kennedy
Mr Brian Redhead
Mr Brian Johnson
Mr Reginald Bosanquet
Mr Auberon Waugh
Mr Bill Sowerbutts
Mr Jim Laker
Mr Jackie Stewart
Lord Kagan
Sir Harold Macmillan
Mr John Wells
Mrs Shirley Williams
Mr Henry Cooper
Mr John Lennon
Mr Neil Kinnock
Captain Mark Phillips
Mr Winston Place
Dame Vera Lynn
Mr Feliks Topolski
Mr Alan Ayckbourn
Sir John Hackett

The Brigadier’s Tour – contains the following 116 short sketches:
The Introduction
The Captain: • Mr W. H. Wooller
The Vice-Captain: • Mr D. J. Insole
The Opening Batsmen: • Mr W. Place • Sir J. B. Hobbs • Mr J. B. Stollmeyer • Mr H. L. Collins • Mr W. Rhodes • Mr W. M. Lawry • Mr A. Jones • Mr S. M. Gavaskar • Mr A. R. Morris • Mr A. C. Maclaren • Mr F. A. Lowson • Mr Hanif Mohammed • Mr R. T. Simpson • Mr C. Milburn • Mr G. Boycott • Mr T. Meale
The Specialist Batsmen: • Mr F. R. Spofforth • Mr K. C. Bland • Mr E. de C. Weekes • Mr W. Watson • Mr C. B. Fry • Mr I. R. Redpath • Mr M. P. Donnelly • Mr C. H. Lloyd • Mr G. Gunn • Mr D. I. Gower • Sir D. G. Bradman • Mr G. R. Viswanath • Mr D. C. S. Compton • Mr A. D. Nourse • Nawab of Pataudi • Mr P. M. Roebuck • Mr V. T. Trumper • Mr I. V. A. Richards • Mr J. E. P. McMaster • Mr R. H. Spooner • Brigadier-General R. M. Poore • Mr D. W. Randall • Mr Z. Abbas • Mr K. D. Mackay • Mr G. L. Jessop • Charles Lawrence, Mullagh, Dick-A-Dick, Twopenny, Red Cap, Mosquito, King Cole, Peter, Cuzens, Tiger, Jim Crow, Bullocky, Dumas, Sundown • Mr D. B. Close • Mr R. L. Dias • Mr C. L. Walcott • Mr T. W. Hayward • Rt Rev D. S. Sheppard • Mr R. N. Harvey • Mr T. W. Graveney • Sir P. F. Warner • Mr A. R. Lewis • Mr A. R. Border • Mr H. Pilling
The All Rounders: • Mr W. G. Grace • Mr R. G. Garlick • Mr R. Benaud • Mr G. H. Hirst • Lord Constantine, Baron of Maraval and Nelson • Mr M. A. Noble • Mr R. M. Kapil Dev • Sir G. St. A. Sobers • Mr P. M. Walker • Mr M. J. Procter • Mr A. E. Trott • Mr F. E. Woolley • Sir F. M. M. Worrell • Mr W. R. Hammond • Mr I. T. Botham
The Fast Bowlers: • Mr J. B. Statham • Mr J. Barton King • Mr H. Larwood • Mr D. K. Lillee • Mr Fazal Mahmood • Mr R. V. Divecha • Mr W. Voce • Mr R. R. Lindwall • Mr W. J. O'Reilly • Mr R. G. D. Willis • Mr E. A. McDonald • Mr M. W. Tate • Mr T. Richardson • Mr I. J. Jones • Mr J. M. Gregory • Mr R. J. Hadlee • Mr F. E. Rumsey • Sir C. A. Smith
The Spinners: • Mr D. J. Shepherd • Mr C. V. Grimmett • Mr R. Peel • Mr P. H. Edmonds • Mr B. S. Bedi • Mr R. Tattersall • Mr J. E. Emburey • Mr H. J. Tayfield • Mr S. Ramadhin • Mr J. C. White • Mr D. V. P. Wright • Mr J. Briggs • Mr J. C. Laker • Mr L. R. Gibbs • Mr C. H. Parkin • Mr H. Verity • Mr Abdul Qadir • Mr C. Blythe
The Greatest Bowler Of Them All: • Mr S. F. Barnes
The Wicket Keepers: • Mr D. Tallon • Mr R. W. Marsh • Mr F. M. Engineer • Mr R. W. Taylor • Mr J. R. Reid • Mr J. G. Binks • Mr W. H. V. Levett
The Replacements: • The Replacements.

Radio credits

Radio drama

1964 Hardluck Hall
1973 Sam's Wedding
1980 A Gifted Child
1981 An Occasional Day
1981 Stoker Leishman's Diaries
1981 The Siege
1981 The Bargeman's Comfort
1985 Crossing the Frontier
1987 A Touch Of Daniel
1987 The Village Fete rpt. 1988
1990 A Small Union
1992 Tales from the Brigadier
1992 Two into Three
1993 The Governor's Consort R3
1995 Pen Pals
1997 Secret life of the Shed–feature on shed life–with P.Tinniswood
1997 Batteries not included-feature on batteries-with P.Tinniswood
1997 A Very Rare Bird Indeed
1998 The Last Obituary,rpt 1999
1998 Visiting Julia: 6-episode comedy drama series
1998 Next time we might play better
1998 The wireless lady
1998 On the whole it's been jolly good,rpt.1999
1998 Verona-a conspiracy of parrots,rpt 1999
1999 The House Swap
1999 The Scan
2000 Dorothy, a Manager's wife
2000 Age Gap
2000 The Packer
2000 Admiral of the night
2000 Monument, dram.
2001 The Duvet Lady
2001 Mr. Reliable
2001 Tales from the Backbench
2001 On the train from Chemnitz
2001 Tales from the Backbench
2002 On the whole it's been jolly good, rpt
2002 The Air Raid
2002 Anton in Eastbourne
2003 The Goalkeeper's Boo-Boo
2010 The Visitor

Serials

Home Again 6
Uncle Mort's North Country 5
Winston 6
Winston Comes To Town 6
Uncle Mort's South Country – Series 1 5
Uncle Mort's South Country – Series 2 5
Winston In Love 6
Winston In Europe 6
Winston Back Home 6
Uncle Mort's Celtic Fringe 5