Frederic Mullally (25 February 1918 – 7 September 2014) was a British journalist, public relations executive, and novelist. He was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Career

Mullally's journalism career began in India where, from 1937 to 1949, he was sub-editor on '' The Statesman'' of

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, then editor of the ''

Sunday Standard ''The Sunday Standard'' was an English-language weekly newspaper in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the India ...

'' of

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. Back in London he worked as a sub-editor of ''

The Financial News ''The Financial News'' () is a South Korean daily newspaper. The newspaper's motto is "First-Class financial paper". Kwon Seong Cheol, an alumnus of Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public university, public ...

'', as co-editor of the weekly ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

'', and finally as political editor and columnist of the ''

Sunday Pictorial The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marked ...

''. From 1950 to 1955, he headed the public relations firm of Mullally & Warner, with clients ranging from

Audrey Hepburn Audrey Kathleen Hepburn ( Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Holly ...

and

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer, and decorated naval officer of World War II. He is best-known for starring in such films as '' The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937), '' Gunga Din'' (1939), ...

Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty Sr. (; December 15, 1892 – June 6, 1976) was an American petroleum industrialist who founded the Getty Oil Company in 1942 and was the patriarch of the Getty family. A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, he was the son of pion ...

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performa ...

, the

Festival Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish ...

and

Picture Post ''Picture Post'' was a photojournalistic magazine published in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1957. It is considered a pioneering example of photojournalism and was an immediate success, selling 1,000,000 copies a week after only two months. ...

. Others included;

Vera Lynn Dame Vera Margaret Lynn (; 20 March 1917 – 18 June 2020) was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is Honorific nicknames in popular music, honorifically known ...

Yvonne De Carlo Margaret Yvonne Middleton (September 1, 1922January 8, 2007), known professionally as Yvonne De Carlo, was a Canadian-American actress, dancer and singer. She became a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film star and sex symbol in the 1940s a ...

Guy Mitchell Guy Mitchell (born Albert George Cernik; February 22, 1927 – July 1, 1999) was an American pop singer and actor, successful in his homeland, the UK, and Australia. He sold 44 million records, including six million-selling singles. His best-kno ...

Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norway, Norwegian figure skating, figure skater and film star. She was a three-time List of Olympic medalists in figure skating, Olympic champion (Figure skating at the 1928 Winter Olympics, ...

Line Renaud Line Renaud (born Jacqueline Ente on 2 July 1928) is a French singer, actress and AIDS activist. In her 80 year career, she has appeared in 86 films and TV films, released 25 albums and 114 singles. She has also appeared in 12 plays and written ...

Johnnie Ray John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blu ...

Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical tr ...

Les Paul and Mary Ford Les Paul and Mary Ford were a popular 1950s husband-and-wife musical duo who performed and recorded during 1950–1963. They both sang and played guitar. Ford and Paul were music superstars during the first half of the 1950s, putting out 28 hits ...

, and the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and its counterpart,

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, as well as the

Hulton Press Sir Edward George Warris Hulton (29 November 1906 – 8 October 1988) was a British magazine publisher and writer. Early life Hulton was born to Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet, a newspaper publisher and racehorse owner originally from Manches ...

. In 1956, he was the only person to receive an interview with the newly married Prince Rainier of Monaco and his new wife,

Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982), also known as Grace of Monaco, was an American actress and Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier III from their marriage on April 18, 1956, until her death in 1982. ...

, then on their honeymoon on the Prince's yacht while anchored off the Mediterranean island of

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

, a request granted to Mullally as, apart from being a resident of the island himself, he had been the only one of a pack of journalists to show appropriate respect for the feelings of the couple on their special occasion. Mullally's first novel was the 1958 world best-seller ''Danse Macabre''. This was followed by eleven more titles. His semi-autobiographical novel ''Clancy'' was dramatised by the BBC in five one-hour television episodes in 1975 and 1977 under the title ''

Looking for Clancy Looking for Clancy was a 1975 television serial broadcast on BBC2. Based on Frederic Mullally's 1971 novel ''Clancy'', it was dramatised in five parts by Jack Pulman and starred Robert Powell, Keith Drinkel and T. P. McKenna. Produced by Ric ...

'', starring

Robert Powell Robert Thomas Powell ( ; born 1 June 1944) is an English actor who is known for the title roles in '' Mahler'' (1974) and '' Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1978) ...

and Keith Drinkel. Between books, Mullally compiled and wrote with the collaboration with the BBC an album, ''The Sounds of Time'' a dramatised history of Britain (1933–45) and the long running '' Penthouse'' magazine's erotic strip cartoon " Oh Wicked Wanda!". In 1949, he abandoned a prospective candidature of the Labour Party for the parliamentary constituency of

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. north of Charing Cross, nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, London, Whetstone, Mill Hill and Hendon. It is ...

and

Friern Barnet Friern Barnet () is a suburban area within the London Borough of Barnet, north of Charing Cross. Its centre is formed by the busy intersection of Colney Hatch Lane (running north and south), Woodhouse Road (taking westbound traffic towards No ...

. Late in his life he contributed occasional freelance journalism. He died in 2014 at the age of 96.

Personal life

He was married to the actress

Rosemary Nicols Rosemary Nicols (born Rosemary Claxton; 28 October 1941, in Bradford, England) is a British actress and writer. She comes from a theatrical family and was the author of a 1970 book ''The Loving Adventures of Jaby''. Biography She was educated ...

from 27 September 1971 until his death on 7 September 2014.

Selected bibliography

Fiction

* ''Danse Macabre'' (1958) published as ''Marianne'' in the US * ''Man with Tin Trumpet'' (1961) published as ''Sara'' in the US * ''Split Scene'' (1963) * ''The Assassins'' (1964) * ''No Other Hunger'' (1966) * ''The Prizewinner'' (1967) * ''The Munich Involvement'' (1968) * ''Clancy'' (1971) * ''The Malta Conspiracy'' (1972) * ''Venus Afflicted'' (1973) * ''Hitler Has Won'' (1975) * ''The Deadly Payoff'' (1976) * ''The Daughters'' (1988)

Non-fiction

* ''Death Pays a Dividend'' (1944) with

Fenner Brockway Archibald Fenner Brockway, Baron Brockway (1 November 1888 – 28 April 1988) was a British socialist politician, humanist campaigner and anti-war activist. Early life and career Brockway was born to Rev. William George Brockway and Frances Eliz ...

* ''Fascism Inside England'' (1946) * ''The Penthouse Sexicon'' (1968) humorous guide * ''The Silver Salver: The Story of the Guinness Family'' (1981) * ''Primo: The Story of Man-Mountain Carnera'' (1991).

References

External links

* John Simkin:
Frederic Mullally
',

Spartacus Educational Spartacus Educational is a free online encyclopedia with essays and other educational material on a wide variety of historical subjects, principally the struggle for equality and democracy as part of British history from 1700 and the history of ...

, 1997, 2014 (per 2018) *
Frederic Mullally Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mullally, Frederic 1918 births 2014 deaths English non-fiction writers English male journalists English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English male writers British erotica writers British comics writers Writers from London British people in colonial India