DAVID STOREY

(13 July 1933 - 27 March 2017)

Although chiefly a novelist and playwright, David Storey often adapted his own books and plays for both the big and small screen. Yorkshire-born, he trained as an artist at the Slade School in London during the week but returned to Leeds at weekends to play professional rugby. His first novel, This Sporting Life, published in 1960 and based on his own experience, was subsequently filmed by Lindsay Anderson with Richard Harris. Some of his Royal Court plays directed by Anderson, Home, Early Days, In Celebration, The Contractor were all adapted for television, while In Celebration was also filmed by Anderson for the American Film Theatre (screened on TV in the US and released in cinemas in the UK). He was married to Barbara Hamilton (who died in 2015), with whom he had two sons and two daughters. He continued writing mainly novels and plays, and exhibited a collection of his drawings in 2016.

MICHAEL DARVELL