Digby George Gerahty (3 April 1898 – 6 November 1981), who wrote mostly under the pen-names of Robert Standish and Stephen Lister, was an English novelist and short story writer most productive during the 1940s and 1950s. He was also a featured contributor to the Saturday Evening Post. His novels include Elephant Walk, which was later made into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor.[1] In the semi-autobiographical Marise (1950), Gerahty (writing as "Stephen Lister") claimed that he and two publicist colleagues had covertly "invented" the Loch Ness Monster in 1933 as part of a contract to improve business for local hotels; he repeated his claim to Henry Bauer, a researcher, in 1980.[2]
He was born in 1898 in Isleworth,[3][4] the son of George and Laura. He was the elder brother of the actor Leslie Marsh Gerahty (better known as Garry Marsh) and the younger brother of the journalist Cecil Gerahty.[5]
Upon leaving school he went to India to work the tea plantations. He joined the Royal Air Force on 7 July 1917[6] and served until 15 February 1919, leaving with a temporary commission as 2nd lieutenant.[7] After World War One he worked as Reuters correspondent in Japan, followed by periods in China and Siberia. At various points of his life he lived in or travelled through Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, Australia and New Zealand.
He was first married in 1934[8] with a second marriage, to Ethyle R D Campbell, in 1938, Paddington.[9]
Gerahty died at his home in Valbonne, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, in the South of France, aged 83.[1][10]
Works
edit- Goose Feathers (1938, George Digby)
- Down Wind (1939, George Digby)
- Red Horizons (1939, George Digby) (published in the United States as Under the Redwood Trees, 1940)
- Savoy Grill at One! (1939, Lister)
- Consider the Lilies (1941, Lister)
- Sunset Over France (1942, Lister)
- The Three Bamboos (1942, Standish)
- Bonin (1943, Standish)
- The Marionette (1943, George Echlin)
- Softly Softly Catvchee Monkey (1943, Lister)
- By the Waters of Babylon (1945, Lister)
- Eight Oaks (1945, Lister)
- The Small General (1945, Standish)
- Mr. On Loong (1947, Standish)
- Peace Comes to Sainte Monique (1947, Lister)
- Elephant Walk (1948, Standish)
- Hail Bolognia! (1948, Lister)
- The Gulf of Time (1948, Standish)
- Sun and Heir (1949, Lister)
- Gentleman of China (1949, Standish)
- Follow the Seventh Man (1950, Standish)
- Marise (1950, Lister)
- Storm Centre (1951, Standish)
- The Sky is Blue (1951, Lister)
- A Worthy Man (1952, Standish)
- Miss Sainte Monique (1953, Lister)
- Fit for a Bishop; or, How to Keep a Fat Priest in Prime Condition (Recipes) (1953, 1955, Lister)
- A Long Way from Pimlico (1954, Standish) (published in the United States as Escape from Pimlico)
- Private Enterprise (1954, Standish) (short stories)
- Face Value (1955, Standish) (short stories)
- Blind Tiger (1956, Standish)
- Honourable Ancestor (1956. Standish)
- Everything Smelt of Kippers (1957, Lister)
- Storm Centre (1957)
- The Prince of Storytellers: The Life of E. Phillips Oppenheim (1957, Standish)
- African Guinea Pig (1958, Standish)
- Delorme in Deep Water (1958, Lister)
- The Radio-Active General and Other Stories (1959, Standish)
- In Search of Paradise (1960, Lister)
- The Big One Got Away (1960, Standish)
- The First of Trees: The Story of The Olive (1960, Standish)
- The Talking Dog: and Other Stories (1961, Standish)
- The Cruise of the Three Brothers (1962, Standish)
- Singapore Kate (1964, Standish)
- Hot Chestnuts and Other Stories (1964, Standish)
- End of The Line (1965, Standish)
- More Fit for a Bishop (1965, Lister)
- The Widow Hack (1966, Standish)
- Sainte Monique Roundabout (1967, Lister)
- Sainte Monique Unlimited (1968, Lister)
- The Course of True Love (1968, Standish)
- Broom (1969, Lister)
- Elephant Law, and Other Stories (1969, Standish)
- Empty Valley (1970, Lister)
- Rickshaw Boy (1970, Standish)
- Hungarian Roulette (1972, Lister)
- The Silk Tontine (1972, Standish)
- The Fountain of Youth, and Other Stories (1973, Standish)
- Tycoon in Eden (1973, Lister)
- Smell of Brimstone (1974, Lister)
- The Short Match (1974, Standish)
- Dabney's Reef (1975, Standish)
- The Dog That Never Was (1975, Lister)
- Green Fire (1976, Standish)
- Becky (1976, Lister)
- The Story of Mary Lee (1978, Standish)
- Abominable Goat (1977, Lister)
- Autumn Cuckoo (1977, Standish)
References
edit- ^ a b "Mr R. Standish". The Times. 7 November 1981 – via Gale.
- ^ Bauer, Henry H. The Enigma of Loch Ness. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1984. Pp. 4, 157.
- ^ 1901 England Census [database on-line]. Class: RG13; Piece: 1188; Folio: 98; Page: 31, Enumeration District: 10. Ancestry.com.
- ^ The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/900E, Enumeration District: BSAD Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register [database on-line].
- ^ Sell, Jonathan P. A. (2018). "Cecil Gerahty's The Road to Madrid: An Anglo-Irish Falstaff in Spain's Theatre of War". ES Review. Spanish Journal of English Studies. 39 (39): 11–28. doi:10.24197/ersjes.39.2018.11-28.
- ^ The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England; Kew, Surrey, England; Air Ministry: Air Member for Personnel and Predecessors: Airmen's Records; Series Number: AIR 79. Ancestry.com. UK, Royal Air Force Airmen Records, 1918-1940 [database on-line]
- ^ "Memoranda". The London Gazette. No. 31825. 16 March 1920. p. 3311.
- ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 Chertsey Vol 2a, page 191. March 1934. www.freebmd.org.uk
- ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005. Paddington Mar 1938 Vol:1a, Page:141. www.freebmd.org.uk
- ^ Probate 1982. Find a will | GOV.UK (probatesearch.service.gov.uk)
External links
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