Sir John Edward Nourse Heygate, 4th

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

(19 April 1903 – 18 March 1976),thePeerage.com
/ref> was a Northern Irish journalist and novelist. He is chiefly remembered for his liaison in 1929 with Evelyn Gardner while she was married to

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

. He is portrayed as "John Beaver" in Waugh's '' A Handful of Dust''What to read when you're... tempted by infidelity
Justine Picardie, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' 3 October 2008 and as "Sir Piers Tofield" in Henry Williamson's ''Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight''.

Background

Heygate was the son of Frances Harvey and Arthur Heygate, who was an

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

housemaster and third son of the second baronet. He was educated at

and graduated from

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree. In 1926 he went to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

as a trainee for the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

. He subsequently got a job as an assistant news editor at the

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 ...

.I am also a camera: John Heygate and Talking Picture
Geoff Brown, ''Film History'', vol 20, 2008 In the late 1920s Heygate was on the fringes of the group of socialites known as the " Bright Young People" and was friends with the author

Anthony Powell Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work '' A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English. Powell ...

. In 1929 divorce proceedings began between Evelyn Waugh and

the Honourable ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...

Evelyn Gardner (a daughter of the 1st Baron Burghclere). Heygate was cited and hence was forced to resign from the BBC. (This scandal is said to be one reason why the

's first Director General, Reith, took a firm line against any of his staff being involved in a divorce.) In 1930 he married Gardner. In 1932 he joined the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation and worked in collaboration with the German UFA film company at their

Babelsberg Studio Babelsberg Film Studio () (also known as Studio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world, producing films since 1912. With a total area of about and a studio area of a ...

near Berlin. Of staunch right-wing views, he was present at the 1935 Nuremberg Rally in the company of his friend the writer Henry Williamson. In neighbouring seats were Unity Mitford,

Diana Mitford Diana, Lady Mosley (''née'' Mitford; 17 June 1910 – 11 August 2003), known as Diana Guinness between 1929 and 1936, was a British fascist, aristocrat, writer, and editor. She was one of the Mitford sisters and the wife of Oswald Mosley, le ...

and Dr. Frank Buchman. Heygate and Gardner were divorced in 1936. In February of the same year, he remarried, to the Gaumont-British actress Gwyneth Lloyd (of the

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a major British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with a significant presence across England and Wales. It has traditionally been regarded one of the "Big Four (banking)#England and Wales, Big Four" clearing house ...

family). They subsequently moved to

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. They had two sons George and

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

, both of whom eventually inherited the baronetcy. Despite his political sympathies he served as a bombardier 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 ...

during the Second World War. He wrote the book ''These Germans'', published in 1940. He succeeded to the title of 4th

, of Southend, Essex, on 14 January 1940. Heygate and Lloyd divorced in 1947. He married again in 1951 to Dora Harvey. She died in 1968. By the 1970s he was living alone in Bellarena,

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

. In 1976 Heygate committed suicide by shooting himself. He was 72.

Works

Books

His books comprise: * ''Decent Fellows'' (1930), a public school novel. * ''White Angel'' (1934) * ''Talking Picture'' (

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

, 1934), a semi-autobiographical novel dealing with experiences in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, similar to Christopher Isherwood's '' I Am a Camera''. * ''Motor Tramp'' (Jonathan Cape, 1935), a factual account of tours in an MG motor car, including a visit to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. *''A House for Joanna'' (1937). A tale of life on the Sussex coast. *''These Germans: An estimate of their character seen in flashes from the drama, 1918–1939'' (1940) *''Love and Death'' (1943) *''Kurumba'' (

Eyre & Spottiswoode Eyre & Spottiswoode was the London-based printing firm established in 1739 that was the King's Printer, and subsequently, a publisher prior to being incorporated; it once went by the name of Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & co. ltd. In April 1929, it ...

, 1949). Described as: ''A raffish, intelligent tale of a soldier and his native mistress, set in the imaginary Kurumba, somewhere on the Indian sub-continent, during the second world war.''

Screenplays

Heygate is credited

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

as a co-writer on the following films, made in Germany and starring Lilian Harvey: *''The Only Girl (Ich und die Kaiserin)'' (1934) *''Black Roses (Schwarze Rosen)'' (1935)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heygate, John 1903 births 1976 suicides 1976 deaths English writers English male screenwriters Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom People educated at Eton College Suicides by firearm in the United Kingdom Royal Artillery soldiers Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford News editors BBC people 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century English male writers British Army personnel of World War II