John Antrobus

2022-05-31T16:33:13Z

92.9.76.167:

{{Short description|English playwright}}
{{About|the author|the cricketer|John Antrobus (cricketer)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = John Antrobus
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1933|7|2|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Woolwich]], [[London]], England
| occupation = {{hlist|Playwright|screenwriter}}
| period = 1956–2010
| genre = {{hlist|Comedy|drama|adventure}}
| spouse = Margaret McCormick
| children =
| alma-mater =
}}
'''John Arthur Antrobus''' (born 2 July 1933) is an English playwright<ref>{{Cite web|title=Plays by John Antrobus|url=http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsA/antrobus-john.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022171720/http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsA/antrobus-john.html|archive-date=2007-10-22|access-date=2020-06-23|website=Doollee}}</ref> and screenwriter. He has written extensively for stage, screen, TV and radio, including the epic World War II play, ''Crete and Sergeant Pepper'' at the Royal Court. He authored the children's book series ''Ronnie'', which includes ''Help! I am a Prisoner in a Toothpaste Factory''.<ref name="SurvivingSpikeMilligan">{{cite book|last=Antrobus|first=John|title=Surviving Spike Milligan: A Voyage Through the Mind & Mirth of the Master Goon|year=2002|publisher=Robson Books|location=London|isbn=0-246-12275-7}}</ref>

==Early life==
John Arthur Antrobus<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/R9uL7h93p9UqwOp8zOA_8CesKf8/appointments|title=John Arthur ANTROBUS - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)|website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk}}</ref> was born at [[Woolwich]], [[London]].<ref name="auto1">Contemporary Dramatists, ed. Kate Berney, St James Press, 1993, p. 19</ref> His father was a [[regimental sergeant-major]] in the [[Royal Horse Artillery]], and the family was stationed at the School of Artillery in Larkhill, on the edge of Salisbury Plain. After attending [[Bishop Wordsworth's School]] in [[Salisbury]], [[Wiltshire]], [[Selhurst High School|Selhurst Grammar School]], [[Croydon]], and King Edward VII Nautical College, London, where he was an apprentice deck officer in the Merchant Navy from 1950 to 1952,<ref name="auto1"/> Antrobus attended the [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst]], serving with the [[East Surrey Regiment]] from 1952 to 1955,<ref name="auto">Contemporary Dramatists, ed. James Vinson, St James Press, 1973, p. 36</ref> but rebelled and dropped out of the Army.<ref name="SurvivingSpikeMilligan" /><ref name="McCann">{{cite book|last=McCann|first=Graham|title=Spike & Co.|year=2006|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|location=London|isbn=0-340-89809-7}}</ref><ref name="who21">Herbert (1981) page 21 also mentions Sandhurst</ref>

==Career==
After leaving the Army, spending time also working as a supply teacher and waiter,<ref name="auto"/> Antrobus pursued a future writing comedy, and went to [[Associated London Scripts]] (ALS), the writers' co-operative set up by [[Spike Milligan]] and [[Eric Sykes]].<ref name="McCann156">McCann (2006) p. 156</ref> Antrobus states "I met Spike in 1954 or 55. I had sent a sample script to Galton and Simpson and they took me on at Associated London Scripts". Antrobus and Milligan "wrote a couple of ''[[The Goon Show|Goon Shows]]'' together. I wish I had done more of them with him but I wanted to be a playwright. I didn't realise they were golden times and how they gave life".<ref name="MilliganHisPartInOurLives">{{cite book|last=Ventham|first=Maxine|title=Spike Milligan: His Part In Our Lives.|year=2002|publisher=Robson|location=London|isbn=1-86105-530-7}} p. 68</ref> The two shows were ''The Spon Plague'', and ''The Great Statue Debate'', both broadcast in March 1958.<ref name="McCann367-368">McCann (2006) pp367-368</ref><ref name="SurvivingSpikeMilligan16">Antrobus (2002) pp. 16, 32</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s08e23_the_spon_plague|title=The Goon Show Site - Script - The Spon Plague (Series 8, Episode 23)|website=www.thegoonshow.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s08e26_the_great_statue_debate|title=The Goon Show Site - Script - The Great Statue Debate (Series 8, Episode 26)|website=www.thegoonshow.net}}</ref>

At ALS, Antrobus also worked with [[Johnny Speight]] on ''[[Frankie Howerd|The Frankie Howerd Show]]'' in 1956,<ref name="McCann156"/> After contributing material to the first [[Carry On (film series)|''Carry On'']] film, ''[[Carry On Sergeant]]'' (1958), he wrote his first movie screenplay: for ''[[Idol on Parade]]'' (1959), starring [[Anthony Newley]].<ref name="McCann156"/><ref name="SurvivingSpikeMilligan44">Antrobus (2002) pp.44</ref> During 1960 he worked with Milligan and Sykes in the second series of ''[[Sykes and A...]]'' (August- September 1960).<ref name="McCann156"/> He was also a contributing writer to the television series ''[[The Army Game]]'', in the 1958 and 1961 shows, along with [[Larry Stephens]], Maurice Wiltshire, and Lew Schwarz in 1958, and Brad Ashton, [[Barry Took]], [[Marty Feldman]] and Wilshire in 1961.<ref name="McCann350,351">McCann (2006) pp. 350, 351. This article previously referred to him contributing to the spin-off show ''Bootsie and Snudge''. However, McCann lists Antrobus amongst the writers for ''The Army Game'', but not ''Bootsie and Snudge''.</ref> During the 1960s and 1970s, he provided scripts for television series as diverse as ''[[That Was the Week That Was]]'',<ref name=McCann/> ''Television Playhouse'' and Spike Milligan's ''Milligan in...'' {{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} Antrobus wrote for Milligan's last radio series, ''[[The Milligan Papers]]'', a BBC Radio Collection released in 2002.<ref name="SurvivingSpikeMilligan" /> Milligan said he did not actually like Antrobus.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}

Antrobus' best known play is the [[surrealist]] ''[[The Bed-Sitting Room (play)|The Bed-Sitting Room]]'' (1963) (co-written with Milligan).<ref name="thebedsittingroom">Milligan, Spike, & Antrobus, John (1973) ''The Bedsitting Room''. Tandem: London. First published in Great Britain by Margaret & Jack Hobbs, 1970. Published by [[Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd]], 1972.</ref> A [[The Bed-Sitting Room (film)|film version]] was released in 1969 and a sequel from 1983. His other plays include ''Cane of Honour'' (1965), ''Captain Oates' Left Sock'' (1969), ''An Apple A Day'' (1970) and ''City Delights'' (1978). In October 2005, Antrobus and [[Ray Galton]] (with whom he had collaborated on the 1986 sitcom ''Room at the Bottom'' and ''Get Well Soon'' from 1997) unveiled their play ''[[Steptoe and Son]] – Murder at Oil Drum Lane'' at the Theatre Royal, York. In 2010, Antrobus and Ray Galton's production of ''Not Tonight Caligula'', originally written for [[Frankie Howerd]], was recorded as a live radio play at The [[Leicester Square Theatre]] by The [[Wireless Theatre Company]] directed by Antrobus and starring [[Clive Greenwood]] in Howerd's role. Although largely retired, Antrobus still writes and is involved in fringe productions and talent scouting.

==Personal life==
In 1958, John Antrobus married Margaret {{nee}} McCormick. They had two sons and a daughter.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="who">{{cite encyclopedia|title=ANTROBUS, John|encyclopedia=Who's Who in the Theatre|volume=1|page= 21|publisher=Gale Research Company|year=1981|issn=0083-9833|editor=Ian Herbert}}</ref>

==Writing credits==
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
! Production
! Notes
! Production company / Distributor<br />or Broadcaster
|-
|''[[Son of Fred]]''
|
*"Episode #1.1" (co-written with [[Dave Freeman (British writer)|Dave Freeman]], [[John Junkin]], Maurice Wiltshire and [[Spike Milligan]], 1956)
|[[Associated-Rediffusion]] / [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]
|-
|''Early to Braden''
|
*Unknown episodes (1957)
|BBC Television
|-
|''The April 8th Show (Seven Days Early)''
|
*Co-written with [[Alan Simpson (scriptwriter)|Alan Simpson]], [[Johnny Speight]] and [[Ray Galton]], 1958)
|BBC Television
|-
|''[[Carry On Sergeant]]''
|
*Feature film (co-written with [[Norman Hudis]], 1958)
|[[Peter Rogers]] / [[Anglo-Amalgamated]]
|-
|''[[Idol on Parade]]''
|
*Feature film (1959)
|[[Warwick Films|Warwick]] / [[Columbia Pictures|Columbia]]
|-
|''[[Jazz Boat]]''
|
*Feature film (co-written with [[Ken Hughes]] and [[Rex Rienits]], 1960)
|Warwick / Columbia
|-
|''[[Sykes and a...]]''
|
*"Sykes and a Library Book" (1960)
*"Sykes and a Cheque Book" (1960)
|BBC Television
|-
|''[[The Army Game]]''
|
*"The Kindest Man in Britain" (1960)
|[[Granada Television]] / ITV
|-
|''[[Bootsie and Snudge]]''
|
*"The Cemetery" (1961)
|Granada Television / ITV
|-
|''ITV Television Playhouse''
|
*"The Missing Links" (1961)
|Associated-Rediffusion / ITV
|-
|''[[That Was the Week That Was]]''
|
*Unknown episodes (1962)
|BBC Television
|-
|''[[The Wrong Arm of the Law]]''
|
*Feature film (co-written with Len Heath and [[Ray Galton]], 1963)
|[[British Lion Films]]
|-
|''[[Room at the Bottom (1967 TV series)|Room at the Bottom]]''
|
*"A Show for Monty" (1964)
*"It Came from Outer Hollywood" (1964)
*"The Show That Died of Shame" (1964)
*"A Job with the Other Lot" (1964)
|[[ABC Weekend TV]] / ITV
|-
|''A World of Comedy''
|
*"Don't Bank on It" (1965)
|Rediffusion / ITV
|-
|''[[The Big Job (film)|The Big Job]]''
|
*Feature film (co-written with [[Talbot Rothwell]], 1965)
|Peter Rogers / Anglo-Amalgamated
|-
|''[[Q... (TV series)|Q9]]''
|
*"Episode #1.4" (co-written with [[Neil Shand]] and Spike Milligan, 1969)
|BBC2
|-
|''[[The Bed-Sitting Room (film)|The Bed-Sitting Room]]''
|
*Feature film (1969)
|[[Oscar Lewenstein]] / [[United Artists]]
|-
|''[[The Dustbinmen]]''
|
*"Episode #3.7" (1970)
|Granada Television / ITV
|-
|''[[Oh In Colour]]''
|
*Unknown episodes (1970)
|BBC1
|-
|''Some Matters of Little Consequence''
|
*Unknown episode (1971)
|BBC2
|-
|''Ronnie Corbett in Bed''
|
*Sketch show (1971)
|BBC1
|-
|''An Apple a Day''
|
*Television film (1971)
|BBC1
|-
|''Milligan in...''
|
*"Milligan in Spring" (co-written with [[Chris Langham]], [[Dick Vosburgh]] and Spike Milligan, 1973)
|BBC2
|-
|''[[Too Close for Comfort]]''
|
*"No Deposit, No Return" (1985)
|D.L. Taffner / Metromedia for [[American Broadcasting Company]] (ABC)
|-
|''Last Laugh Before TV-am''
|
*Television film (1985)
|Ravel Productions / [[Channel Four]]
|-
|''[[The Ratties]]''
|
*26 episodes (narration, 1987)
|[[Central Independent Television|Central]] / ITV
|-
|''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985 TV series)|Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]''
|
*"The Impatient Patient (1987)
|Michael Sloan Productions / [[Universal Television]]
|-
|''[[Room at the Bottom (1986 TV series)|Room at the Bottom]]''
|
*13 episodes (co-written with Ray Galton, 1986–1988)
|[[Yorkshire Television]] / ITV
|-
|''[[The Dreamstone]]''
|
*"The Nightmare Stone" (co-written with Martin Gates, 1992)
*"Albert's Ailment" (co-written with Martin Gates, 1992)
*"Return of the Nightmare Stone" (co-written with Martin Gates, 1992)
|Central / ITV
|-
|''[[Carry On Columbus]]''
|
*Feature film (co-written with Dave Freeman, 1992)
|Island World / Comedy House / Peter Rogers
|-
|''[[Get Well Soon (TV series)|Get Well Soon]]''
|
*6 episodes (1997)
|BBC1
|}

==Awards and nominations==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
|- style="text-align:center;"
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Award
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Work
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Category
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Result
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Reference
|-
|1970
|[[Hugo Award]]
|''[[The Bed-Sitting Room (film)|The Bed-Sitting Room]]''
|Best Dramatic Presentation (with Richard Lester, Charles Wood and Spike Milligan)
| {{nom}}
|
|}

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==Publications==
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = You'll Come To Love Your Sperm Test (Playscript) in 'New Writers 4' . |year = 1965 | publisher = [[Calder Publishing|Calder and Boyars]] | location = London }} First produced Edinburgh, 1964.
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = Trixie and Baba (Playscript 22) |year = 1969 | publisher = Calder and Boyars | location = London | isbn = 978-0-7145-0058-4}} First produced Royal Court Theatre, London, 1968. Televised 1971.
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = Why Bournemouth? and Other Plays (Playscripts) |year = 1970 | publisher = [[Calder Publishing|Calder Publications]] | location = London | isbn = 978-0-7145-0641-8}} First produced, Almost Free, London, 1968
* {{cite book |last=Milligan |first=Spike |author2=Antrobus, John |title=The Bedsitting Room |publisher=Tandem |location=London|year=1973 }} First published in Great Britain by Margaret & Jack Hobbs, 1970. Published by [[Universal-Tandem Publishing Co Ltd]], 1972. 1970 Spike Milligan and John Antrobus.
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = Captain Oates' Left Sock (Playscript) |year = 1974 | publisher = [[Samuel French]] | location = London }} First produced Royal Court Theatre, 1969
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = Help! I am a Prisoner in a Toothpaste Factory |year = 1978 | publisher = [[Robson Books]] | location = London | isbn = 978-0-340-25359-5}}
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = Hitler in Liverpool (Playscript) |year = 1983 | publisher = Calder and Boyars| location = London }} First produced Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, London, 1980
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = One Orange for the Baby (Playscript) |year = 1983 | publisher = Calder and Boyars| location = London }} First produced Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, London, 1980
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = Up in the Hide (Playscript) |year = 1983 | publisher = Calder and Boyars| location = London }} First produced Gate Theatre, Notting Hill, London, 1980
*{{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = When Did You Last See Your Trousers? (Playscript) |year = 1988 | publisher = Samuel French | location = London }} First produced, Mold, Clwyd, 1986.
*{{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = The Boy With Illuminated Measles |year = 1988 | publisher = Knight| location = UK | isbn = 978-0-340-25360-1 }}
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = Ronnie and the High Rise |year = 1998 | publisher = Robson| location = London | isbn = 978-0-86051-621-7}}
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus| first = John| title = Ronnie and the Flying Fitted Carpet |year = 1999 | publisher = Robson| location = London | isbn = 978-0-86051-822-8}}
* {{cite book | last = Antrobus | first = John | title = Surviving Spike Milligan: A Voyage Through the Mind & Mirth of the Master Goon | year = 2002 | publisher = Robson Books | location = London | isbn = 0-246-12275-7 }}

== External links ==
*{{IMDb name|0031553}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antrobus, John}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:British television writers]]
[[Category:British radio writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst]]
[[Category:People from Aldershot]]
[[Category:English comedy writers]]
[[Category:British surrealist writers]]

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John Antrobus