Christopher Wentworth Dilke (15 December 1913 – 9 November 1987) 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 ...

writer. He was a member of a literary family. His mother (Ethel Clifford) and grandmother (

Lucy Clifford Lucy Clifford (2 August 1846 – 21 April 1929), better known as Mrs. W. K. Clifford, was an English novelist, playwright and journalist. Biography Lucy Clifford was born Lucy Lane in London, the daughter of John Lane of Barbados. She married ...

), as well as his great-uncle, Sir

Charles Dilke Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 2nd Baronet (4 September 1843 – 26 January 1911) was an English Liberal and Radical politician. A republican in the early 1870s, he later became a leader in the radical challenge to Whig control of the Libera ...

, the statesman, were authors. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, which he left after a year to become a journalist with 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 ...

''. He then worked in publishing. 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 ...

Dilke served in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. He became a lieutenant colonel and was mentioned in dispatches. In 1945 he was Press Controller in the west of Germany, with the task of liquidating the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

press and starting democratic newspapers. At the end of the same year he joined the

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

as head of English by Radio and Television. In his time at the BBC he also was a presenter for the German Service Dilke wrote for radio and film, and was the author of a number of books, including ''The Bridgehead'', ''A Name for Myself'', ''The Rotten Apple'' and ''Dr. Moberly's Mint-Mark, a study of Winchester College''. The dustwrapper to ''A Name for Myself'' notes that his previous novels had been highly praised by Graham Greene and Elizabeth Bowen. Lionel Hale, in ''The Observer'', referencing the film of Greene's ''The Third Man'', commented: "Mr Dilke has...omitted zither music: but all the other ingredients of the intelligent thriller are there." He married Alice Mary Best, and had four children.

References

*Winchester College Register 1915-1960 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dilke, Christopher 20th-century English male writers People educated at Winchester College 1913 births 1987 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers