S. P. B. Mais


Stuart Petre Brodie Mais, known publicly as S. P. B. Mais, was a British author, journalist and broadcaster. He was an author of travel books and guides, and had an informal style that made him popular with the general public.

Biography

Petre Mais, as he was known in his personal life, was the son of Rev. John Brodie Stuart Mais, curate of St Margaret's, Ladywood, Birmingham and his wife Hannah Horden. He was born at Ladywood, but raised in Tansley, Derbyshire, where his family relocated on his father's appointment as rector there in 1890.
He was educated at Denstone College, Staffordshire, then read English Literature at Christ Church, Oxford After teaching at Rossall, Sherborne and Tonbridge, and Royal Air Force College Cranwell, he later worked for the Daily Express, the Daily Graphic and The Daily Telegraph. A prolific author of over 200 books, he also broadcast for numerous wireless programmes for the BBC between the 1920s and 1940s. Mais was an ardent campaigner for the English countryside and traditions, leading walks for people who came for a day trip by train from big cities, often from London.
Mais worked as a journalist for The Oxford Times newspaper, and also for the BBC as a radio broadcaster, most famously on the Kitchen Front radio programme that aired after the morning news during the Second World War. He also presented a series on This Unknown Island.
One grandson is Evening Standard writer Sebastian Shakespeare, who wrote of his grandfather:

Personal life

In 1913, Mais married Doris Snow; they had two daughters: Priscilla and Vivien. After their separation, he had a relationship with Winifred Doughty, who changed her name by deed poll to Gillian Mais; they also had two daughters. After becoming dissatisfied with living standards in the tiny retirement home at Lindfield, Sussex that had been offered to the penniless Mais by the Samaritan Housing Association, along with Mais's refusal to marry her, Jill left Mais for a mutual friend, Dudley Carew, whom she married, and lived with him across the road from Mais, taking him meals.

Death

Mais died on 21 April 1975 at his retirement accommodation in Lindfield, Sussex.

Critical works

  • Delight in Books
  • ''A Chronicle of English Literature''

    Novels

  • The Education of a Philanderer
  • Prunello
  • Eclipse
  • Perissa
  • Orange Street
  • ''Light over Lundy''

    Travel books

These include:
  • See England First
  • Do you know North Cornwall? My finest holiday
  • The Cornish Riviera
  • Glorious Devon
  • North Wales
  • Sussex 1929
  • It isn't far from London
  • Southern rambles for Londoners
  • The Highlands of Britain
  • This unknown island
  • Week-ends in England
  • Isles of the island
  • England's pleasance
  • Lovely Britain edited
  • Round about England
  • Southern schools
  • Pictorial Britain and Ireland
  • England's Character
  • A.C.E: the Atlantic Coast Express
  • Britain calling
  • Let's get out here
  • Walking in Somerset
  • Listen to the Country
  • Highways and Byways in the Welsh Marches
  • Hills of the South
  • I Return to Scotland
  • I Return to Switzerland
  • I Return to Ireland
  • I Return to Wales
  • Little England Beyond Wales
  • The Land of The Cinque Ports
  • The Riviera – New Look and Old
  • We Wander in the West
  • Arden and Avon
  • Norwegian Odyssey
  • The Channel Islands
  • Our Village Today
  • ''Majorcan Holiday''