John Howlett

John Howlett is a novelist, biographer and writer for film, radio, television and stage. He read History at Jesus College, Oxford where, with his school-friend from Tonbridge, David Sherwin, they wrote Crusaders, the original screenplay that later in the 1960's became Lindsay Anderson's award-winning film If. . . By that time John was also working on scripts with the English directors Seth Holt and Peter Duffell - and on a film version (never made) of I Claudius for Tony Richardson. After his early novels and biographies, John worked for many years in Italy (the country of his mother and his wife). He became, in his own words, 'a jobbing screen-writer for hire all round Europe' and was commissioned to produce original drama and adaptations for RAI and for Italian/German/French/Scandinavian co-productions, while continuing the research and writing of his own projects. His television credits include 'Murder of a Moderate Man', the adaptation of Len Deighton's 'Game, Set and Match', and Roy Battersby's revival of Doomwatch in 'Winter Angel'. Also 'Where Were You That Night?', 'Bonne Chance Frenchie', and 'Colpa di Coda'. With Robert Campbell, John wrote the musical 'Dean' - the short triumph and tragedy of the actor James Dean, performed in London's West End and in Japan for many years (John and Robert with the composer Theo Jaskolowski have now written a new musical drama on the life and death of Federico Garcia Lorca). From wartime childhood and through his student and working life, John has had a deep involvement in 20th Century history - always conscious how that history affected the four sides of his and his wife's families in England, Italy and Sicily.