Reginald Arkell (14 October 1881 – 1 May 1959) was a British script writer and comic novelist who wrote many musical plays for the London theatre. The most popular of those was an adaptation of the spoof history book ''

1066 and All That ''1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates'' is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. ...

'': ''1066—and all that: A Musical Comedy based on that Memorable History by Sellar and Yeatman''. He was the author of ''A Cottage in the Country'' and the Green Fingers series of garden verse. Arkell was born on 14 October 1882 at

Lechlade Lechlade () is a town at the southern edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England, south of Birmingham and west of London. It is the highest point at which the River Thames is navigable, although there is a right of navigation that contin ...

, Gloucestershire, England, was educated at Burford Grammar School and trained as a journalist. He married actress Elizabeth Evans in 1912. During the First World War he served with the

King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army. It officially existed from 1881 to 1968, but its predecessors go back to 1755. In 1968, the regiment was amalgamated with the Somerset and Cornwall ...

and The Norfolk Regiment. He also scripted a propaganda comic book, ''Bosch the soldier'', illustrated by

Alfred Leete Alfred Ambrose Chew Leete (1882–1933) was a Great Britain, British graphic artist. Born at Achurch, Thorpe Achurch, Northamptonshire, he studied at Kingsholme School and Weston College, The School of Science and Art (now Weston College) i ...

. Arkell died on 1 May 1959 at

Cricklade Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227. History Cricklade ...

, England.

Works

*''The Round House'' (1958, novel) *''Charley Moon'' (1953, novel, published by Michael Joseph Ltd) *"Trumpets Over Merriford" (1955, American title: ''The Miracle Of Merriford'', 1956, novel) *''Collected Green Fingers'' (1956, poems) *''Come to the ball; or, Harlequin'' (1951, adaptation of

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ov ...

Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Flittermouse'' or ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original li ...

) *''Old Herbaceous'' (1950, republished 2002) *''Green fingers Again'' (1942, poems) *''War Rumours'' (1939, verse, illustrated by Edgar Norfield) *''

Percy Ponsonby ''Percy Ponsonby'' was a BBC television comedy series broadcast in 1939. It starred Charles Heslop Charles Heslop (8 June 1883 in Thames Ditton, England – 13 April 1966) was a British actor. His stage successes include a musical versio ...

'' (1939, TV series) *''1066 And All That'' (1939, TV version) *'' The Street Singer'' or ''Interval for Romance'' (1937, film musical which starred

Arthur Tracy Arthur Tracy (25 June 1899 – 5 October 1997) was an American vocalist and actor, billed as The Street Singer. His performances in theatre, films and radio, along with his recordings, brought him international fame in the 1930s. Late evening r ...

) *''Smash and Grab'' (1937, film) *''Green fingers, and other poems'' (1934, includes ''Roses at

Owlpen Owlpen is a small village and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England, set in a valley in the Cotswold hills. It is about east of Uley, and east of Dursley. The Owlpen valley is set around the settlement like an amphit ...

'') *''The Last Waltz'' (1936, film of the musical comedy) *''1066 And All That'' (1935, revue) *''A Kingdom for a Cow'' (1935, adaptation of

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

's operetta

Der Kuhhandel ''Der Kuhhandel '' (''A Kingdom for a Cow'' or ''Arms and the Cow'') is an operetta by Kurt Weill. The German libretto was written by Robert Vambery. Genesis Kurt Weill and Robert Vambery were both refugees from Nazi Germany. They met in Paris ...

) *''Playing the Games'' (1935, humour) *''Bridge Without Sighs'' (1934, A Harmless Handbook to the game, written in rhyme) *''

Richard Jefferies John Richard Jefferies (6 November 1848 – 14 August 1887) was an English nature writer, noted for his depiction of English rural life in essays, books of natural history, and novels. His childhood on a small Wiltshire farm had a great influ ...

'' (1933, biography) *''Winter Sportings'' (1929) * Meet These People (1928, poetry with caricatures by Bert Thomas, published by Herbert Jenkins) *''Columbine – A Fantasy of Summertime'' (1928, adaptation for radio) *''The Blue Train'' (1927, musical, music by

Robert Stolz Robert Elisabeth Stolz (25 August 188027 June 1975) was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.Stanley Sadie Ed. (2002) ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', Oxford University Press Biography ...

, additional lyrics by Ivy St. Helier) *''

Frasquita ''Frasquita'' is a 1934 Austrian musical film directed by Karel Lamač and starring Jarmila Novotná, Charlott Daudert, and Heinz Rühmann.Ball and Spiess p. 51 An operetta film, it is an adaptation of Franz Lehár's 1922 stage work of the same na ...

'' (1925, operetta, music by

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; hu, Lehár Ferenc ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is '' The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life ...

) *'' Our Nell'' (1924, musical play, music by

Ivor Novello Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical ...

and

Harold Fraser-Simson Harold Fraser-Simson (15 August 1872 – 19 January 1944) was an English composer of light music, including songs and the scores to musical comedies. His most famous musical was the World War I hit ''The Maid of the Mountains'', and he later set ...

) *''The tragedy of Mr. Punch'' (1923, play) *''Columbine'' (1922, play) *''Catherine'' (1922, musical play, music by

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most pop ...

) *''The Last Waltz'' (1922, musical comedy, music by Oscar Straus) *''All the Rumors'' (1916, contains the poem ''Actual Evidence I Have None ...'', published by Duckworth & Company, 1916 *''World War, 1914-1918'' (47 pp.) *"The Holidays" (Children's poem in ''The Captain'', December 1910)

''Old Herbaceous''

''Old Herbaceous'' is a classic British novel of the garden, with a title character as outsized and unforgettable as

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

’s immortal manservant,

Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...

. Born at the dusk of the Victorian era, Bert Pinnegar, an awkward orphan child with one leg a tad longer than the other, rises from inauspicious schoolboy days spent picking wildflowers and dodging angry farmers to become the legendary head gardener "Old Herbaceous," the most esteemed flower-show judge in the county and a famed horticultural wizard capable of producing dazzling April strawberries from the greenhouse and the exact morning glories his Lady spies on the French Riviera, "so blue, so blue it positively hurts." Sprinkled with nuggets of gardening wisdom, ''Old Herbaceous'' is a witty comic portrait of the most archetypal—and crotchety—head gardener ever to plant a row of bulbs at a British country house.

References

External links

*
BBC page on ''Percy Ponsonby''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arkell, Reginald 1881 births 1959 deaths Military personnel from Gloucestershire British garden writers English biographers English humorists English male journalists English non-fiction writers People from Lechlade British Army personnel of World War I British male poets British male dramatists and playwrights English male novelists British comics writers 20th-century English poets 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English male writers King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry soldiers Royal Norfolk Regiment soldiers Male biographers