Robert Atkinson Westall (7 October 1929 – 15 April 1993) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

known for fiction aimed at

children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

and

young people Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

. Some of the latter cover complex, dark, and adult themes. He has been called "the dean of British war novelists". His first book, ''

The Machine Gunners ''The Machine-Gunners'' is a children's historical novel by Robert Westall, published by Macmillan in 1975. Set in northeastern England shortly after the Battle of Britain (February 1941), it features children who find a crashed German aircraft w ...

'', won the 1975 Carnegie Medal for the year's outstanding children's book by a British subject. It was named among the top ten Medal-winners at the 70th anniversary celebration in 2007. Westall also won a second Carnegie (no one has yet won three), a

Smarties Prize Smarties are dragée chocolate confectionery. They have been manufactured since 1937, originally by H.I. Rowntree & Company in the United Kingdom, and now by Nestlé. Smarties are oblate spheroids with a minor axis of about and a major axis ...

, and the once-in-a-lifetime

Guardian Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annually recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author ...

Early life and career

Robert Westall was born 7 October 1929 in

North Shields North Shields ( ) is a town in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. The population of North Shields at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom cens ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. He grew up there on Tyneside during the Second World War, which he used as the setting for many of his novels. He earned a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in Fine Art at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

and a post-graduate degree in sculpture at the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

in London in 1957. From 1953 until 1955, Westall did national service in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

as a Lance Corporal in the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

. Westall then became a teacher, serving as Head of Art and Head of Careers at Sir John Deane's Grammar School in Northwich,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. Westall acted as a branch director of

Samaritans Samaritans (; ; ; ), are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah that ...

in 1966–1975, while writing for papers such as ''Cheshire Life'' and ''The Cheshire Chronicle'', and for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as an

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

Writing

Westall was inspired to be a writer by telling his son Christopher stories about his experiences in 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 first book, ''

'', issued by Macmillan in 1975, told a Second World War story about English children who find "a crashed German bomber in the woods complete with machine gun". It was

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

as a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television serial in 1983. He returned to its setting in Garmouth, a fictionalised

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle up ...

, in other novels, including ''

The Watch House The Watch House is a 1977 fiction book by Robert Westall. The main story is about a teenager called Anne, who is left to spend the summer with her mother's old nanny. While there she explores the watch house, writes a guidebook for the watch hou ...

'' (1977) and '' Fathom Five'' (1979), which continues the ''Machine Gunners'' story. Christopher was killed in a motorbike accident at the age of 18 in 1978. He became the inspiration for ''The Devil on the Road'' (1978), commended for the Carnegie Medal, and for a short story in ''The Haunting of Chas McGill'' (1983). Westall won a second Carnegie Medal for '' The Scarecrows'' (Chatto & Windus, 1981). He retired from teaching only in 1985 and tried dealing in antiques before focusing exclusively on writing. For '' Blitzcat'' (Bodley Head, 1989) he won the annual

in category 9–11 years, which in 1994 the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

named as one of the hundred Best Books for Young Adults of the Last 25 years. He finally won the once-in-a-lifetime

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annually recognised one fiction book written for Children's literature, children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conf ...

for ''The Kingdom by the Sea'' (Methuen, 1990). Both that and ''Gulf'' (1992) were commended runners-up for the Carnegie Medal. The latter tells of the

home front Home front is an English language term with analogues in other languages. It is commonly used to describe the civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system for their military. Civilians are traditionally uninvolved in com ...

during the

Persian Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. From 1988 until his death Westall attended a writers' circle in

Lymm Lymm ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England. It incorporates the hamlets of Booths Hill, Broomedge, Church Green, Deansgreen, Heatley, Heatley Heath, Little Heatley, Oughtrington, Reddish, Rushgreen and ...

where he helped to assist and mentor new writers.

Death, memorial and legacy

Westall died on 15 April 1993 in

Warrington Hospital Warrington Hospital is a health facility at Warrington in Cheshire, England. It is managed by Warrington & Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins an isolation hospital which was constructed on the site in 1893 ...

of respiratory failure from pneumonia. At the time of his death, he lived in lodgings with his landlady, Lindy McKinnel, at 1 Woodland Avenue in the village of

. He had his own cottage a few paces away, 107 Higher Lane, which he bought with book royalties and visited every day to do his writing. Previously he had lived at 20 Winnington Lane,

Northwich Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane, east of Chester, south of Warrington and south of Ma ...

and run Magpie Antiques, Church Street,

Davenham Davenham (; ) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cheshire, England. It is part of the Cheshire West and Chester, Borough of Cheshire West and Chester. It had a population of 2,745 at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 201 ...

. As a journalist, Westall wrote for ''Cheshire Life'', the Northwich ''Chronicle'' and the ''

Warrington Guardian The ''Warrington Guardian'' is a local newspaper that has been published in Warrington, England, since 1853, originally published weekly on Saturdays.''The Literary and Educational Yearbook for 1859'', p. 287 In 1856 it was bought by Alexander ...

''. A memorial service was held on 29 September 1993, at nearby All Saints' Church,

Thelwall Thelwall is a suburban village in the civil parish of Grappenhall and Thelwall, in the Warrington district, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is close to the Lymm junction of the M6 motorway. History A fortified village was e ...

, Warrington. Tributes were paid by former teaching colleagues and Miriam Hodgson, editorial director (fiction) of Reed Children's Books. A blue plaque was placed on Westall's birthplace, 7 Vicarage Street, North Shields, the following year. There is also a Westall Walk across locations used by Westall in his stories. In October 2006, ''A Trip to Tynemouth'' by the Japanese animator

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...

was published in Japan. It is based on "Blackham's Wimpy", a story first published in Westall's ''Break of Dark'' collection. The rival RAF crews in the story fly

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...

bombers. The nickname "Wimpy" comes from Wimpy in the Popeye cartoons.

Selected bibliography

According to

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

, participating libraries hold editions of Westall's books in 17 foreign languages.

Novels

*''

'' (1975) *''The Wind Eye'' (1976) *''The Watch House'' (1977) *''The Devil on the Road'' (1978) *'' Fathom Five'' (1979) *'' The Scarecrows'' (1981) *''Break of Dark'' (1982) *''Futuretrack Five'' (1983) *''The Haunting of Chas McGill'' (1983) *'' The Cats of Seroster'' (1984) *''Rachel and the Angel'' (1986) *''

Urn Burial ''Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial, or, a Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns lately found in Norfolk'' is a work by Sir Thomas Browne, published in 1658 as the first part of a two-part work that concludes with ''The Garden of Cyrus''. The title is Greek ...

'' (1987) *''The Creature in the Dark'' (1988) *''Ghost Abbey'' (1988) *''Ghosts and Journeys'' (1988) *'' Blitzcat'' (1989) *''The Call and Other Stories'' (1989) *''Old Man on a Horse'' (1989) *''A Walk on the Wild Side'' (1989) *''Echoes of War'' (1989) *''If Cats Could Fly'' (1990) *''The Kingdom by the Sea'' (1990) *''The Promise'' (1990) *''Stormsearch'' (1990) *''The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral'' (1991) *''Yaxley's Cat'' (1991) *''Fearful Lovers'' (1992) *''Gulf'' (1992) *''Falling into Glory'' (1993) *''A Place For Me'' (1993) *''Size Twelve'' (1993) *''The Wheatstone Pond'' (1993) *''A Place to Hide'' (1994) *''A Time of Fire'' (1994) *''The Witness'' (1994) *''Blitz'' (1995) *''Christmas Spirit'' (1995) *''The Night Mare'' (1995) *''Blizzard'' (1996) *''Harvest'' (1996) *''Love Match'' (1997) *''Voices in the Wind'' (1997) *''David and the Kittens'' (2003)

Short fiction collections

* ''Break of Dark'' (1982) * ''The Haunting of Chas McGill and Other Stories'' (1983) * ''Rachel and the Angel and Other Stories'' (1986) * ''Ghosts and Journeys'' (1988) *''Antique Dust'' (1989) * ''The Call and Other Stories'' (1989) (a.k.a. ''The Call and Other Strange Stories'', 2003) *''The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral'' (1991) (a.k.a. ''In Camera and Other Stories'', 1992) *''Fearful Lovers and Other Stories'' (1992, a.k.a. ''Fearful Lovers'' 1993) * ''Demons and Shadows: The Ghostly Best of Robert Westall'' (1993) (a.k.a. ''The Best of Robert Westall: Volume One: Demons and Shadows'', 1999) *''Shades of Darkness: More of the Ghostly Best Stories of Robert Westall'' (1994) (a.k.a. ''The Best of Robert Westall: Volume Two: Shades of Darkness'', 1999) *''Christmas Spirit: Two Stories'' (1994) *''Shadows of War'' (2019)

Nonfiction

*''Children of the Blitz'' (1985) *''The Making of Me'' (2006) (autobiographical)

Adaptations

Radio

*''Hitch-Hiker'' (first story in ''Break of Dark''), BBC Radio 5 (1990) *''The Machine Gunners'',

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

(2002) *''The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral'', BBC Radio 4 (1996) *''The Wheatstone Pond'', BBC Radio 4 (2002) *''Yaxley's Cat'', BBC Radio 4

Television

*''The Machine Gunners'',

(1983) *''The Watch House'',

(1988)

Awards and honours

100 Best Books for Young Adults of the Last 25 years *1994: '' Blitzcat''

Best Fiction for Young Adults *1997: ''Gulf''

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award The ''Boston Globe''–''Horn'' Book Awards are a set of American literary awards conferred by ''The Boston Globe'' and ''The Horn Book Magazine'' annually from 1967. One book is recognized in each of four categories: Fiction and Poetry, Nonficti ...

runners-up *1977 Honor Book: ''The Machine Gunners'' *1982 Honor Book: ''The Scarecrows'' Carnegie Medal *1975: ''The Machine Gunners'' *1981: ''The Scarecrows'' *1990 highly commended runner-up: ''The Kingdom by the Sea'' *1992 highly commended runner-up: ''Gulf'' *1978 commended runner-up: ''Devil on the Road''

Dracula Society The Dracula Society is a London-based literature and travel group with an interest in supernatural and macabre works of fiction, as exemplified by Bram Stoker's ''Dracula''. The Society The society was founded in October 1973 by two actors, Bernar ...

Children of the Night Award *1991: ''The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral''

*1991: ''The Kingdom by the Sea''

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize The Nestlé Children's Book Prize, and Nestlé Smarties Book Prize for a time, was a set of annual awards for British children's books that ran from 1985 to 2007. It was administered by BookTrust, an independent charity that promotes books and r ...

, age category 9–11 years *1989: ''Blitzcat'' Sheffield Children's Book Award *1991: ''The Promise''

Papers

Robert Westall's papers, deposited between 2003 and 2010, are at

Seven Stories Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books is a museum and visitor centre dedicated to children's literature and based in the Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle upon Tyne, close to the city's regenerated Quayside. The renovated Victorian ...

, National Centre for Children's Books.

Notes

References

External links

*
Robert Westall Collection
– archive at Seven Stories, the Centre for Children's Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Westall, Robert 1929 births 1993 deaths Military personnel from Tyne and Wear 20th-century British Army personnel 20th-century English short story writers 20th-century educators 20th-century English non-fiction writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English essayists Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Antiques dealers English male essayists British male short story writers British writers of young adult literature Carnegie Medal in Literature winners English art critics English autobiographers English children's writers English essayists English horror writers English non-fiction writers English short story writers British ghost story writers Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners Literacy and society theorists People educated at Sir John Deane's College People from Northwich British psychological fiction writers Royal Corps of Signals soldiers War writers British weird fiction writers Writers of historical fiction set in the modern age Alumni of King's College, Newcastle