Cedric John Foley MBE (7 March 1917 – 8 November 1974) was a British Army officer, author, broadcaster, and public relations specialist. He was educated at

St Mary's College, Crosby St. Mary's College is an independent Roman Catholic coeducational day school in Crosby, Merseyside, about north of Liverpool. It comprises an early years department "Bright Sparks" (age 0-4), preparatory school known as "The Mount" (age 4-11 ...

and the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

. A regular soldier between 1936 and 1954, he was made MBE for his services to the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Ar ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. His love of tanks was reflected in ''The Boilerplate War'', a book of recollections of the early days of armoured warfare, and ''Mailed Fist'', telling of his tank exploits in Normandy in 1944. He drew on his military experience in several other successful novels, including ''Death of a Regiment'' and ''Bull and Brass''. He spent five years as a military reporter and later served in the Directorate of Public Relations at the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

. On retiring from the Army, he continued in public relations, and became prominent as a consultant, being particularly concerned with the problems of American-owned businesses in Britain. He was also a director of Campbell-Johnson Ltd. A man of wide interests, he was also known as a broadcaster and scriptwriter, and was military advisor to the popular

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

comedy show, ''

The Army Game ''The Army Game'' is a British television sitcom that aired on ITV from 19 June 1957 to 20 June 1961. It was the first ITV sitcom and was made by Granada, and created by Sid Colin. It follows the exploits of Hut 29, a dysfunctional group of ...

''. He is also the author of two screenplay novelisations, published in paperback as media

tie-ins A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, website, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original proper ...

, which some sources erroneously list as original novels upon which the films were based, although each book cover states that it is "the book of the film", and cites its screenplay origins and authors. *''

Man in the Moon In many cultures, several pareidolic images of a human face, head or body are recognized in the disc of the full moon; they are generally known as the Man in the Moon. The images are based on the appearance of the dark areas (known as lunar m ...

'' (1960, starring

Kenneth More Kenneth Gilbert More (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was an English actor. Initially achieving fame in the comedy ''Genevieve (film), Genevieve'' (1953), he appeared in many roles as a carefree, happy-go-lucky gent. Films from this period ...

and

Shirley Anne Field Shirley Anne Field (born Shirley Broomfield; 27 June 1936 – 10 December 2023) was an English actress who performed on stage, film and television from 1955 until her death. She was prominent during the British New Wave. Early life Shirley Bro ...

), based on the screenplay by

Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes Order of the British Empire, CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2 ...

and

Michael Relph Michael Leighton George Relph (16 February 1915 – 30 September 2004) was an English film producer, art director, screenwriter and film director. He was the son of actor George Relph. Films Relph began his film career in 1933 as an assista ...

(Four Square Books), which is credited on the back coverAbeBooks: ''Man in the Moon, Foley, John (based on the screenplay by Bryan Forbes and Michael Relph)''
Retrieved 2012-09-08 *''

Very Important Person A very important person (VIP or V.I.P.) or personage is a person who is accorded special privilege (legal ethics), privileges due to their high social rank, social status, status, social influence, influence, or Importance (disambiguation), impo ...

'' (1961, starring

James Robertson Justice James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British actor. He often portrayed pompous authority figures in comedies, including each of the seven films in the ''Doctor'' series. He also co-starred with Gregory Peck in seve ...

and

Leslie Phillips Leslie Samuel Phillips (20 April 1924 – 7 November 2022) was an English actor. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. He appeared in the '' Carry On'' ...

), based on the screenplay by Jack Davies and Henry Blyth (Mayfair Books), which is cited on the back cover, the title page and (by implication in) a joint copyright shared by John Foley and Jack DaviesAbeBooks: ''Very Important Person, Foley, John (based on the film script by Jack Davies)''
Retrieved 2012-09-08

References

*Obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 13 November 1974 {{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, John 1917 births 1974 deaths People educated at St Mary's College, Crosby Royal Armoured Corps officers English military writers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst English broadcasters Members of the Order of the British Empire British public relations people English male screenwriters English male non-fiction writers 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English male writers British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century English businesspeople