Elleston Trevor


Elleston Trevor was a British novelist and playwright who wrote under several pseudonyms. Born Trevor Dudley-Smith, he eventually changed his name to Elleston Trevor. Trevor worked in many genres, but is principally remembered for his 1964 adventure story The Flight of the Phoenix, written as Elleston Trevor, and for a series of Cold War thrillers featuring the British secret agent Quiller, written under the pseudonym Adam Hall.
In all, Trevor wrote over 100 books.
He also wrote as Simon Rattray, Howard North, Roger Fitzalan, Mansell Black, Trevor Burgess, Warwick Scott, Caesar Smith and Lesley Stone.

Life and work

Early life

Trevor was born to an alcoholic stockbroker and his wife. He hated his prep school, Yardley Court, where he was beaten weekly for doing badly at Latin, and subsequently also disliked Sevenoaks School. He did not attend university, having been apprenticed as a racing driver and then recruited by the RAF as a Flight Engineer for the duration of the Second World War. He also wrote prolifically, having several story-books for children published while still serving in the air force.
In the 1950s, he was a bestselling author of military adventure stories, published mainly, at that stage, by Heinemann. His spy writing started in the early 1960s and he was often described in the blurb to his paperbacks as "Adam Hall, the mystery author of international bestsellerdom", in classic 1960s fashion.

Private life

Born Trevor Dudley Smith in Bromley, Kent, he lived after the Second World War in Roedean, by Brighton, Sussex, before relocating out of the UK. He lived in Spain and France for fifteen years before moving in 1973 to the United States, where he lived in Phoenix, Arizona and where he died of cancer, in Cave Creek, in 1995. He was married twice: in 1947 to Jonquil Burgess by whom he had one son, Jean Pierre Trevor, and in 1987 to Chaille Anne Groom. He was proficient in karate. He also enjoyed flying kites and racing miniature cars.

Writing

The Quiller series focuses on a solitary, highly capable "shadow executive" who works for an agency of Great Britain called "the Bureau" in Whitehall. The organization officially "doesn't exist." He narrates his own adventures. Quiller occupies a literary middle ground between James Bond and John le Carré. He is a skilled driver, pilot, diver, martial artist, and linguist, but does not carry a gun. Regarded by his superiors as "reliable under torture", Quiller is often captured, then interrogated or tortured without giving away vital information.
The series is very stylized, featuring intense depictions of spy tradecraft and professional relationships, surprising jump cuts between chapters, and deep, self-critical, incisive, practically stream-of-consciousness, interior monologues highlighting Quiller's mental self-discipline. Most of the novels feature a high-speed car chase, with Quiller as pursuer or pursued, and an extended, detailed scene of hand-to-hand combat.
The first of the Quiller novels, The Berlin Memorandum won an Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel. It was filmed in 1966 under its US title with a screenplay by Harold Pinter and starred George Segal and Alec Guinness. It was also adapted into a 1975 British television series, featuring Michael Jayston.
As "Simon Rattray," he wrote mystery novels featuring Hugo Bishop, a brilliant man who, like Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, solved crimes as a kind of mental challenge. The first Bishop novel, Knight Sinister, appeared in 1951; five more followed, the last appearing in 1957. That Trevor could also be very effective in the straight, non-mystery genre is shown by The Billboard Madonna : the protagonist accidentally kills a beautiful woman in a car crash, and is obsessively compelled to memorialize her.
Under the name "Adam Hall," he also wrote The Volcanoes of San Domingo about a mysterious plane crash off the coast of San Domingo and the efforts to uncover what really happened. When alerted by a report indicating that one of the crew members had been seen alive, "Rayner," an employee of the airline, is sent to investigate.
He also wrote children's books about the character "Wumpus", a koala, and his friends, including Flip Flap, the penguin. Titles included Wumpus, and More about Wumpus. Other children's books include Scamper-Foot the Pine Marten, Ripple-Swim the Otter, and the Woodlander series.
His book The Big Pick-Up was one of the stories on which the 1958 film Dunkirk was based.
Trevor also wrote radio plays for the BBC.

Reception

Works

Novels

As by Elleston Trevor

As by Elleston Trevor

As by Adam Hall

As by Elleston Trevor

As by Elleston Trevor

As by Elleston Trevor

As by Elleston Trevor

As by Elleston Trevor

Journalism:
*