View source for Ray Galton

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
| name         = Ray Galton
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|OBE}}
| image        = Ray Galton.jpg
| caption      = Galton in 1964
| birth_name   = Raymond Percy Galton
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1930|07|17|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Paddington]], London, England 
| death_date   = {{death date and age|2018|10|5|1930|7|17|df=yes}}
| death_place  = Paddington, London, England
| occupation   = [[Screenwriter|Scriptwriter]]
| period       = 1954–1997
| genre        = Television
| notableworks = ''[[Hancock's Half Hour]]'', ''Hancock'' (1954–1961)<br />''[[Comedy Playhouse]]'' (1961–63, 1974)<br />''[[Steptoe and Son]]'' (1962–74).
| spouse       = Tonia Phillips (1956–95, her death)<ref name="Gdn2018">{{cite news|last=Barker|first=Dennis|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/oct/07/ray-galton-obituary|title=Ray Galton Obituary|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=7 October 2018|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>
| relatives    = 
}}

'''Raymond Percy Galton''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|OBE}} (17 July 1930 – 5 October 2018) was an English radio and television scriptwriter, best known for the [[Galton and Simpson]] comedy writing partnership with [[Alan Simpson (scriptwriter)|Alan Simpson]]. Together they devised and wrote 1950s and 60s [[BBC]] [[British sitcom|sitcom]]s  including  ''[[Hancock's Half Hour]]'' (1954–1961), the first two series' of ''[[Comedy Playhouse]]'' (1961–1963), and ''[[Steptoe and Son]]'' (1962–1974).

==Early life==
Galton was born in [[Paddington]], [[West London (sub region)|West London]], and after leaving school he worked for the [[Transport and General Workers Union]]. He contracted [[tuberculosis]] aged 18 in 1948 and was admitted to Milford Sanatorium near [[Godalming]] in [[Surrey]], where he met fellow patient Alan Simpson.<ref name=independent>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-ray-galton-alan-simpson-1219717.html|title=How We Met: Ray Galton & Alan Simpson|website=Independent.co.uk|access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref><ref name=independent2>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/galton-and-simpson-grumpy-old-men-1360341.html|title=GALTON AND SIMPSON: GRUMPY OLD MEN?|website=Independent.co.uk|access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref><ref name=telegraph>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/05/05/ray-galton-and-alan-simpson-interview-there-never-was-a-golden-a/|title=Ray Galton and Alan Simpson interview: There never was a Golden Age of TV|date=5 May 2016|access-date=6 October 2018|website=Telegraph.co.uk}}</ref>

==Galton and Simpson==
{{main|Galton and Simpson}}

==Later career==
Alan Simpson retired from scriptwriting in 1978 to concentrate on his business interests. Galton then often worked with [[Johnny Speight]] on scripts, including ''[[Spooner's Patch]]'' (1979–1982) about a corrupt police station. He also wrote scripts for sitcoms produced in Germany and Scandinavia. He co-wrote the ITV series ''[[Room at the Bottom (1986 TV series)|Room at the Bottom]]'' (1986–1988) about television executives. His last sitcom was ''[[Get Well Soon (TV series)|Get Well Soon]]'' in 1997 which he co-created with [[John Antrobus]] and which was based on his own experiences in a sanatorium. In October 2005, Galton and Antrobus premiered their play ''[[Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane]]'' at the Theatre Royal, York. The play was set in the present day and related the events that led to Harold killing his father, and their eventual meeting thirty years later (Albert appearing as a ghost).

==Honours and awards==
Galton won two BAFTA awards among many others such as a British Comedy Award. 
He accepted an OBE in 2000 and he and Simpson received  a [[BAFTA Fellowship]] on 8 May 2016.<ref name=bafta>{{cite web|url=http://www.bafta.org/television/awards/ray-galton-alan-simpson-bafta-fellowship-in-2016|title=Ray Galton & Alan Simpson - BAFTA Fellowship in 2016|website=Bafta.org|access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
Galton married Tonia Phillips in 1956, and they had three children; she died from cancer in 1995.<ref name="Gdn2018" /> He died on 5 October 2018. Galton's family said he died in his sleep at a family home after a long period suffering from [[dementia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/groundbreaking-sitcom-writer-ray-galton-dies-11519144|title=Groundbreaking sitcom writer Ray Galton dies|website=News.sky.com|access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|0303362|Ray Galton}}

{{Galton and Simpson}}
{{BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galton, Ray}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:English radio writers]]
[[Category:English television writers]]
[[Category:British television writers]]
[[Category:BAFTA fellows]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Paddington]]
[[Category:English male writers]]
[[Category:Deaths from dementia in England]]
[[Category:British male television writers]]
[[Category:English comedy writers]]