29 January 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of HE Bates.
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Herbert Ernest Bates (1905-1974) was an English novelist and is widely recognised as one of the finest short story writers of his generation. His first novel The Two Sisters was published in 1926, with a collection of short stories ‘Day’s End, and other stories’ published in 1928. He became well known as a writer about the countryside and the life of the agricultural labourer.
Commissioned as a writer for the Royal Air Force in 1941, as “Flying Officer X” he gained popularity with The Greatest People in the World (1942) and How Sleep the Brave (1943).
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His post-war novels include the Darling Buds of May (where we first meet the Larkins) and The Triple Echo (later made into a film with Glenda Jackson and Oliver Reed)
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