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Josephine Tey
Elizabeth MacKintosh (25 July 1896 – 13 February 1952), known by the pen name Josephine Tey, was a Scottish author. Her 1951 novel The Daughter of Time, a detective work investigating the death of the Princes in the Tower, was chosen by the Crime Writers' Association in 1990 as the greatest crime novel of all time. Her first play Richard of Bordeaux, written under another pseudonym, Gordon Daviot, starred John Gielgud in its successful West End run.
MacKintosh was born on 25 July 1896 in Inverness, the eldest of three daughters of Colin MacKintosh, a fruiterer, and Josephine (née Horne). She attended Inverness Royal Academy and then, in 1914, Anstey Physical Training College in Erdington, a suburb of Birmingham. She taught physical training at various schools in England and Scotland and during her vacations worked at a convalescent home in Inverness as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. A youthful romance ended with the death of her soldier friend in the Somme battles. In 1923, she returned to Inverness permanently to care for her invalid mother and stayed after her mother's death that year to keep house for her father.
The curriculum for "physical training" included much more than athletics. MacKintosh used her school experience in Miss Pym Disposes when describing the subjects taught at the school, and the types of bruises and other injuries sustained by the pupils. When she graduated, MacKintosh worked in a physiotherapy clinic in Leeds, then taught in schools, first in Nottinghamshire, then in Oban, where she was injured when a boom in the gymnasium fell on her face. MacKintosh repurposed this incident as a method of murder in Miss Pym Disposes.
While caring for her father, she began her career as a writer. Her first published work was in The Westminster Gazette in 1925, under the name Gordon Daviot. She continued publishing verse and short stories in The Westminster Review, The Glasgow Herald and the Literary Review.
Her first novel, Kif: An Unvarnished History, was well received at the time with good reviews, a sale to America, and a mention in The Observer's list of Books of the Week. This work was inspired by a detachment of the 4th Cameron Highlanders, a Scottish Territorial battalion stationed at Inverness before the First World War and prominent in the city's affairs. It was an early indication of MacKintosh's lasting interest in military matters. Three months later, her first mystery novel, The Man in the Queue, was published by Benn, Methuen. It was awarded the Dutton Mystery Prize when published in America. This is the first appearance of her detective, Inspector Alan Grant. It would be some years before she wrote another mystery.
MacKintosh's real ambition had been to write a play that would receive a run in London's West End. Her play about King Richard II, Richard of Bordeaux, was produced in 1932 at the Arts Theatre, under the Daviot pseudonym. Its success was such that it transferred to the New Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre) in 1933 for a year-long run. The production made a household name of its young leading man and director, John Gielgud, who became MacKintosh's life-long friend. MacKintosh wrote of Inspector Alan Grant that "he had in his youth seen Richard of Bordeaux; four times he had seen it". She stated that she was inspired by Gielgud's performance in Hamlet and by the Royal Tournament. Two more of her plays were produced at the New Theatre, The Laughing Woman (1934) and Queen of Scots (1934, written in collaboration with Gielgud).
MacKintosh wrote about a dozen one-act plays and another dozen full-length plays, many with biblical or historical themes, under the name of Gordon Daviot, but none received notable success. How she chose the name of Gordon is unknown, but Daviot was the name of a scenic locale near Inverness where she had spent many happy holidays with her family. Only four of her plays were produced during her lifetime.
MacKintosh's only non-fiction book, Claverhouse, was written as a vindication of John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee (1648-1689), whom she regarded as a libelled hero: "It is strange that a man whose life was so simple in pattern and so forthright in spirit should have become a peg for every legend, bloody or brave, that belonged to his time."
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Josephine Tey
Elizabeth MacKintosh (25 July 1896 – 13 February 1952), known by the pen name Josephine Tey, was a Scottish author. Her 1951 novel The Daughter of Time, a detective work investigating the death of the Princes in the Tower, was chosen by the Crime Writers' Association in 1990 as the greatest crime novel of all time. Her first play Richard of Bordeaux, written under another pseudonym, Gordon Daviot, starred John Gielgud in its successful West End run.
MacKintosh was born on 25 July 1896 in Inverness, the eldest of three daughters of Colin MacKintosh, a fruiterer, and Josephine (née Horne). She attended Inverness Royal Academy and then, in 1914, Anstey Physical Training College in Erdington, a suburb of Birmingham. She taught physical training at various schools in England and Scotland and during her vacations worked at a convalescent home in Inverness as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. A youthful romance ended with the death of her soldier friend in the Somme battles. In 1923, she returned to Inverness permanently to care for her invalid mother and stayed after her mother's death that year to keep house for her father.
The curriculum for "physical training" included much more than athletics. MacKintosh used her school experience in Miss Pym Disposes when describing the subjects taught at the school, and the types of bruises and other injuries sustained by the pupils. When she graduated, MacKintosh worked in a physiotherapy clinic in Leeds, then taught in schools, first in Nottinghamshire, then in Oban, where she was injured when a boom in the gymnasium fell on her face. MacKintosh repurposed this incident as a method of murder in Miss Pym Disposes.
While caring for her father, she began her career as a writer. Her first published work was in The Westminster Gazette in 1925, under the name Gordon Daviot. She continued publishing verse and short stories in The Westminster Review, The Glasgow Herald and the Literary Review.
Her first novel, Kif: An Unvarnished History, was well received at the time with good reviews, a sale to America, and a mention in The Observer's list of Books of the Week. This work was inspired by a detachment of the 4th Cameron Highlanders, a Scottish Territorial battalion stationed at Inverness before the First World War and prominent in the city's affairs. It was an early indication of MacKintosh's lasting interest in military matters. Three months later, her first mystery novel, The Man in the Queue, was published by Benn, Methuen. It was awarded the Dutton Mystery Prize when published in America. This is the first appearance of her detective, Inspector Alan Grant. It would be some years before she wrote another mystery.
MacKintosh's real ambition had been to write a play that would receive a run in London's West End. Her play about King Richard II, Richard of Bordeaux, was produced in 1932 at the Arts Theatre, under the Daviot pseudonym. Its success was such that it transferred to the New Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre) in 1933 for a year-long run. The production made a household name of its young leading man and director, John Gielgud, who became MacKintosh's life-long friend. MacKintosh wrote of Inspector Alan Grant that "he had in his youth seen Richard of Bordeaux; four times he had seen it". She stated that she was inspired by Gielgud's performance in Hamlet and by the Royal Tournament. Two more of her plays were produced at the New Theatre, The Laughing Woman (1934) and Queen of Scots (1934, written in collaboration with Gielgud).
MacKintosh wrote about a dozen one-act plays and another dozen full-length plays, many with biblical or historical themes, under the name of Gordon Daviot, but none received notable success. How she chose the name of Gordon is unknown, but Daviot was the name of a scenic locale near Inverness where she had spent many happy holidays with her family. Only four of her plays were produced during her lifetime.
MacKintosh's only non-fiction book, Claverhouse, was written as a vindication of John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee (1648-1689), whom she regarded as a libelled hero: "It is strange that a man whose life was so simple in pattern and so forthright in spirit should have become a peg for every legend, bloody or brave, that belonged to his time."