Peter Bryan George (26 March 1924 – 1 June 1966) was a Welsh author, most famous for the 1958

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

thriller novel '' Red Alert'', published initially with the title ''Two Hours to Doom'' and written using the pseudonym Peter Bryant. The book was the inspiration for

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

's classic movie '' Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb''.

Life

George was born in 1924 in

Treorchy Treorchy ( cy, Treorci; ) is a town and community (and electoral ward) in Wales. Once a mining town, it retains such characteristics. Situated in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in the Rhondda Fawr valley. Treorchy is also one of the 16 ...

Rhondda Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coal mining, coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fa ...

, Wales, and died aged 42 in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

, England. He was a

flight lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior Officer (armed forces)#Commissioned officers, commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) RAF officer ranks, system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. I ...

and navigator for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

serving with No. 255 Squadron RAF, flying

night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...

missions over Malta and Italy. He rejoined the RAF serving at

RAF Neatishead Remote Radar Head Neatishead ( ) or RRH Neatishead is an air defence radar station operated by the Royal Air Force. It is located approximately north east of Norwich in Norfolk, England. It was established during the Second World War and consi ...

and as a fighter controller where he often wrote while on duty and used a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

. He retired from the service in 1961. On 1 June 1966, Peter George was found dead with a discharged double-barreled shotgun between his knees; his death was ruled a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

Works

His best-known novel, '' Red Alert'' was written while he was a serving RAF officer (hence the original use of a pseudonym: ''Peter Bryant'' – the ''Bryan'' being from his middle name). Drawn from personal experience, ''Red Alert'' was the inspiration for

's classic film '' Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb''. Interest in nuclear weapon themes, sparked by

Stanley Kramer Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message picture, message films" (he would call his movies ''heavy dramas'') and a libera ...

's film version of the novel '' On the Beach'' in 1959, caused the movie rights to ''Red Alert'' to be sold that year, only to be transferred until Stanley Kubrick bought them in 1962, reportedly for as little as $3,500. Another bestselling novel published in 1962, ''

Fail Safe In engineering, a fail-safe is a design feature or practice that in the event of a specific type of failure, inherently responds in a way that will cause minimal or no harm to other equipment, to the environment or to people. Unlike inherent safe ...

'', was so similar to George's nuclear war theme that both he and Kubrick sued on a charge of

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

, settling out of court. Ironically the same movie studio,

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

, which had financed and was distributing ''Strangelove'', also bought ''Fail Safe'', which had been an independently financed production. Since Kubrick insisted that the studio release his movie first in January 1964,Jacobson, Colin
"Review:Fail-Safe: Special Edition (1964)."
''dvdmg.com,'' 2000. Retrieved: November 21, 2010. the perceived commonality led to ''

'' opening in October later that year to poor box office performance, despite excellent reviews for its more serious depiction of a nuclear crisis than Kubrick's overtly satirical approach. While Peter George received a co-writing credit for ''Strangeloves screenplay with Kubrick and Terry Southern, it is unclear how much involvement he actually had, and he was reportedly dissatisfied with the comedic element Kubrick applied to the material. As a co-writer, he shared a "

Best Adapted Screenplay This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...

" Oscar nomination. After the movie was released, he wrote a

novelisation A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the adve ...

of ''Dr. Strangelove'' and dedicated it to Kubrick. It was out of print for many years but was to be re-issued in 2015 by Candy Jar Ltd and features previously unpublished material concerning Strangelove's early career, with a foreword by George's son, David. George's final completed novel before his suicide, ''

Commander-1 ''Commander-1'' is a 1965 novel by Welsh people, Welsh author Peter Bryan George and deals with the aftermath of a nuclear war between the United States, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. It was George's last published work, ...

'', envisaged a post-apocalyptic world in which a group of survivors is tyrannized by a dictator.

Novels

* ''Come Blonde, Came Murder'' (T. V. Boardman, 1952) as "Peter George". * ''Pattern of Death'' (T. V. Boardman, 1954) as "Peter George". * ''Cool Murder'' (T. V. Boardman, 1958) as "Peter George"; later reissued in paperback (Mayflower, 1965) as "Bryan Peters". * ''Two Hours To Doom'' (T. V. Boardman, 1958) as "Peter Bryant" - later published as Red Alert (Ace, 1958) * ''Hong Kong Kill'' (T. V. Boardman, 1958) as "Bryan Peters". * ''The Big H'' (T. V. Boardman, 1961) as "Bryan Peters". * ''The Final Steal'' (T. V. Boardman, 1962) as "Peter George". * '' Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'' (Corgi, 1963) as "Peter George"; novelisation of the screenplay; dedicated to Stanley Kubrick. * ''

'' (Heinemann, 1965) as "Peter George".

References

External links

*
Web site of George's son with some memorabilia of George's ''Two Hours to Doom'' (''Red Alert'') including the letter
from

* https://web.archive.org/web/20081011083635/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/elizabeth.ercocklly/peter.htm Website detailing his life, works and suicide.
Commander-1: The Life and Death of Author Peter George
{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Peter 1924 births 1966 suicides Royal Air Force officers Welsh novelists Suicides in England People from Treorchy 20th-century British novelists 20th-century Welsh writers Anglo-Welsh novelists Welsh science fiction writers Suicides by firearm in England 1966 deaths Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Hugo Award-winning writers