MELVYN BRAGG
Melvyn was Patron of our Woolwich Young Radio Playwrights' Competition from
its foundation in 1990 until 1996, when Carla Lane took over.
Melvyn was born in Wigton, Cumberland in north-west England, and studied
Modern History at Oxford. He is very well known both as a broadcaster and as a
novelist. He edits and presents the arts programme The South Bank Show
for London Weekend Television, he originated and edited Read All About It,
and has contributed many features to the BBC's Lively Arts series. He
also hosts Start the Week on BBC radio.
His novels, which have been published to widespread acclaim include: For
Want of a Nail, The Second Inheritance, Without a City Wall, The Hired
Man, A Place in England, The Nerve, Josh Lawton, The Silken Net, Autumn
Manoeuvres, Kingdom Come, Love and Glory, The Maid of Buttermere, A Time to
Dance, Crystal Rooms and Credo. Melvyn is also the author of
non-fiction books: Speak for England, an oral history of England from
1900, Land of the Lakes, a personal guide to Cumbria, Olivier, a
portrait of Lawrence Olivier, Rich, The Life of Richard Burton and The
Seventh Seal. He has also written screenplays of films, including Isadora,
The Music Lovers, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Maid of
Buttermere. In 1984 his musical adaptation of his novel, The Hired Man,
with music by Howard Goodall opened in the West End of London, and in 1992, his
first full-length play, King Lear in New York was premiered at the
Chichester Festival.
As Patron and supporter of the Woolwich Young Radio Playwrights'
Competition, Melvyn has expressed a keen interest in the work of Britain's young
writers. He has said that "the idea of creating stories through radio
had gone out of fashion until this scheme came along. Now a new generation is
finding new things to say using a rich, imaginative medium and they're following
in the footsteps of great modern writers such as Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett
and Tom Stoppard. It's a remarkable success." He has also described the
competition as the "boldest new writing scheme in the UK".
His support for the competition has proved to be a source of inspiration for
the young writers, and winners over the years have indeed gone on to achieve
further success in the field of writing, and will no doubt continue to do so.
Simon Beaufoy, for instance, who wrote one of the winning plays, Saddam's
Arms, in 1992, is now enjoying success as the screenwriter of the hit movie,
The Full Monty. James Payne, Jane Duncan, William George Q, Paul Nimmo,
Anna Hashmi, Emma Howell and many other Woolwich competition winners have gone
on to enjoy success with plays they have written for stage, television, radio
and film. Melvyn's support has undoubtedly been a contributing factor in the
competition's success over the years.
If you would like to see profiles of other people we've worked with,
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