Christopher Serpell (1 July 1910– 3 June 1991) was a journalist and BBC diplomatic correspondent.
Christopher Harold Serpell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 July 1910 Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 3 June 1991 (aged 80) Barnes, London, England |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Known for | BBC's Rome and Washington Foreign Correspondent |
| Notable work | From Our Own Correspondent |
Serpell was born in Leeds, England, in 1910.[1] He was educated at Leeds Grammar School[1] - where his father was senior master - and at Merton College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1929.[2]
Serpell began his career as a reporter for the Yorkshire Post.[1] In the 1930s he began working for The Times in London.[1] With a fellow journalist, Douglas Brown,[3] he wrote the novel If Hitler Comes (first published in 1940 as Loss of Eden), which imagines a Britain that has ostensibly made peace with Germany but has in effect surrendered.[4]
During World War II, he served in naval intelligence under Ian Fleming.[1] He subsequently joined the BBC as its Rome correspondent, then Washington correspondent from 1953, and finally diplomatic correspondent, until retirement in 1975.
He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs on 31 March 1973.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Christopher Serpell". Faber and Faber. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
- ^ Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900–1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 211.
- ^ "Brown, Douglas". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
- ^ "If Hitler Comes". Faber & Faber. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
- ^ "Desert Island Discs - Castaway: Christopher Serpell". iPlayer Radio. BBC Online. Retrieved 14 August 2014.