Alexander Baron

Writing

1917-12-04 · Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, UK

Alexander Baron (1917-1999) was a novelist and screenwriter. Born into a working class Jewish home in Hackney, Baron joined the Communist Party as a young man, saw the thick of battle in Sicily and Normandy during WWII, and became one of the most admired novelists of post-war Britain. His first novel, From the City, From the Plough (1948) was based on his own wartime experiences, specifically D-Day, and was acclaimed as the definitive novel of WWII. It was the first of a trilogy, including There's No Home (1950) and The Human Kind (1953), the latter of which was adapted into the film The Victors (1963). Literary success led to him writing screenplays for films such as Robbery Under Arms (1957) and The Siege of Sidney Street (1960). This was followed by a string of novels about working class life in post-war London, including The Lowlife (1963), a cult novel for many other writers ever since, and a secondary career as a TV scriptwriter, specifically adapting literary classics like The Further Adventures of the Musketeers (1967), The Legend of Robin Hood (1975), A Horseman Riding By (1978), Sense and Sensibility (1981), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1982), Stalky & Co. (1982) Jane Eyre (1983), Goodbye Mr. Chips (1984), Oliver Twist (1985) and Vanity Fair (1987). In recent years, Baron's reputation has flourished, with many of his fifteen novels now back in print.