29 January 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of HE Bates.
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).
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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