Frank Gale Pedrick-Harvey (born Pedrick; 15 June 1906 – 23 February 1970), known professionally as Gale Pedrick, was an English writer, journalist, scriptwriter, and broadcaster.

Life

Pedrick was born on 15 June 1906, in London, England, and was educated at

Sir Roger Manwood's School Sir Roger Manwood's School is a grammar school located in the medieval town of Sandwich, Kent, England. Founded in 1563, it is one of the oldest schools in Britain and the third oldest state grammar school in Kent. Originally an all-boys schoo ...

Sandwich A sandwich is a Dish (food), dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''co ...

. He began work as a newspaper journalist, first for the '' Western Mail'' in Plymouth, in 1920, then for the ''

Daily Dispatch The ''Daily Dispatch'' is a South African newspaper published in East London in the province of Eastern Cape. The weekend edition is titled ''Daily Dispatch Weekend Edition''. Founded in 1872 as the ''East London Dispatch and Shipping and Mer ...

'' in Manchester, before moving to London to be a theatre critic and feature writer for '' The Star''. He began broadcasting for the BBC in 1926, but during

World War II 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 ...

served in the

Devonshire Regiment The Devonshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that served under various titles and served in many wars and conflicts from 1685 to 1958, such as the Second Boer War, the World War I, First World War and the World War II, ...

and worked for the

British Forces Broadcasting Service The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themsel ...

, which he was managing by 1944, from a studio in Algiers. He reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel and was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. Between 1946 and 1949 he was a script editor for the BBC. He also created and produced '' Pick of the Week'', a compilation of the week's broadcast highlights, which he selected. His works for the BBC included scripts for television, including the first 35 episodes of the UK version of '' This Is Your Life'', and radio, from which there was at least one spin-off book, the crime fiction ''Meet the Rev''. He also wrote the

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 advent of ...

tie-ins for ''

Steptoe and Son ''Steptoe and Son'' is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in 26a Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC in black a ...

''. He co-wrote

George Formby George Formby, (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961), was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he ...

's last film, ''

George in Civvy Street ''George in Civvy Street'' is a 1946 British comedy film directed and produced by Marcel Varnel starring George Formby with Ronald Shiner, and Ian Fleming. It was made by the British subsidiary of Columbia Pictures. This was Formby's last big sc ...

''. He appeared as a castaway on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

'' on 15 February 1965. Pedrick collapsed and died at

Tottenham Court Road station Tottenham Court Road is an interchange station in the St Giles, London, St Giles area of the West End of London for London Underground and Elizabeth line services. The London Underground station is served by the Central line (London Undergrou ...

on 23 February 1970, aged 64. An obituary was published in ''

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 ...

'' the next day.

Bibliography

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References

External links

*
Discussion of ''Meet The Rev''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedrick, Gale 1906 births 1970 deaths Place of birth missing Place of death missing BBC radio producers Devonshire Regiment officers BBC radio presenters British Army personnel of World War II English male journalists People educated at Sir Roger Manwood's School 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights English male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English male writers Writers from London