Denis Pitts (6 January 1930 – 19 April 1994) was a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

, filmmaker and novelist. Denis Pitts first became widely known for his reports on the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

and his subsequent articles in the

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

. In Suez he made the acquaintance of Michael Parkinson, who at the time was in charge of liaising with the press, and they would later work together for the Granada regional news programme, Scene at 6.30. While at Granada he wrote an episode of

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

and did a series of interviews with

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. At ...

which the former prime minister agreed to if published posthumously. He continued to work in television making a film called ‘What the Hell Happens in Marlborough?’ which caused a stir locally. He went on to make ‘The World of

Gracie Fields Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...

’ and ‘The World of

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

’ for the BBC. Gracie Fields revealed marital problems, also for posthumous publication, which he wrote up for The People. While making the Bob Hope film, he filmed the anti-Vietnam protest at Kent State University in which the National Guard killed four students. He published three novels. ''This City is Ours'' (US title: ''Target Manhattan'') about a native American hijacking of a ship in New York harbour; ''The Predator'' which told the story of a wealthy businessman kidnapping Common Market leaders during a summit and which includes a long section set during the Suez Crisis. The last one, ''Rogue Hercules'', tells of amoral pilots carrying a plane load of arms over southern African countries in search of a buyer. He was a senior editor for Chronicle yearbooks, ''Chronicle of the 20th Century'' and ''Chronicle of the World''. His ''Guardian'' obituary called him a ‘Fresh Breeze in Moscow’, relating to his stint working as the correspondent there for the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

''. Much earlier in his career he was the last editor of '' Lilliput'' where he gave cartoonist, John Glashan his break. His views on the death of Grace Archer in the radio soap, ''The Archers'', are quoted by Greg Dyke in his McTaggart Lecture of 2000.

References

External links

His BBC Guide to Comedy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitts, Denis English male journalists 1930 births 1994 deaths