John Lymington

Infobox Writer
name = John Richard Newton Chance


imagesize = 110px
pseudonym = John Lymington, John Drummond, David C. Newton, Jonathan Chance
birthdate = 1911
birthplace = Streatham Hill, London
deathdate = August 3, death year and age|1983|1911
deathplace =
occupation = Novelist, writer, RAF pilot and instructor, publican
nationality = British
genre = Mystery fiction, science fiction, children's literature
notableworks = Night of the Big Heat

John Lymington (1911-1983) was born John Richard Newton Chance in London. He was a prolific writer of short stories, children's literature, mystery and science fiction novels. An obituary in Ansible Link [http://news.ansible.co.uk/a38.html] credits Lymington with writing over 150 novels, 'including 20+ SF potboilers', adding that he 'made a steady income by delivering thrillers to Robert Hale (the publisher) at a chapter a week'.

Lymington's first book, "Wheels in the Forest," was written in 1935. He also wrote "Night of the Big Heat" in 1959. Several of his short stories were collected in "The Night Spiders" in 1964. Pseudonyms used by Lymington throughout his career included John Drummond, David C. Newton, Desmond Reid (see 'Sexton Blake') and Jonathan Chance. Brian Stableford suggested in the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Literature (pp. 208) that the name Lymington was chosen 'in a blatant attempt to cash in' on John Wyndham's popularity.

Chance was educated in a private school in London, and subsequently attended a technical college with the intention of becoming a civil engineer, an ambition which he left behind to become a quantity surveyor. By the age of 21, he decided to give up this job and began to work full-time as a writer.

During his career with the RAF, which began in the summer of 1940, he became a flying instructor at South Cerney, Long Newnton and Bibury airfields [http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=9247393359440112911,51.632989,-2.131984&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=long+newnton,+gloucestershire,+united+kingdom&daddr=South+Cerney,+Cirencester,+Gloucestershire,+United+Kingdom+to:tetbury,+gloucestershire,+united+kingdom&sll=51.66276,-2.046204&sspn=0.178459,0.466919&ie=UTF8&ll=51.66302,-2.046085&spn=0.178457,0.466919&z=11&om=1] in the Cotswolds. The three airfields were administrated under the Cerney office. In this role, he applied previous experience of flying, from as early as 1928. In 1943 he met his wife-to-be, Shirley Savill, at the time serving as a section officer in the WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force). They married on the 22nd of July. In November of that year, Chance was given indefinite leave, and was invalided out with the permanent rank of Flight Lieutenant on the 8th of February, 1944. He wrote about this time in his autobiography, "Yellow Belly", published by Robert Hale in 1959.

After the war, he moved to Hampshire with his wife, where their three sons were born. The family moved to the Isle of Wight in 1956, to take up management of a pub.

Bibliography

Whilst certain of his adult novels enjoyed wide success and translation, he is also fondly remembered for the 'Bunst' children's series, starring eccentric inventor Audacious Cotterell and his youthful sidekick, Bunst (a contraction of his nickname, Bunstuffer).

The 'Bunst' books

Certain bibliographies include only the latter four of these as 'Bunst' books; however, all six involve the same principal characters.

# The Black Ghost (1947) (writing as David C Newton)
# The Dangerous Road (1948)
# Bunst and the Brown Voice (1950) (writing as John Newton Chance)
# Bunst the Bold (1950)
# Bunst and the Secret Six (1951)
# Bunst and the Flying Eye (1953)

ci-fi/Fantasy

# Night of the Big Heat (1959)
# The Giant Stumbles (1960)
# The Grey Ones (1960)
# The Coming of Strangers (1961)
# A Sword Above the Night (1962)
# The Screaming Face (1963)
# The Sleep Eaters (1963)
# Froomb! (1964)
# The Star Witches (1965)
# The Green Drift (1965)
# The Waking of the Stone (1967)
# Ten Million Years to Friday (1967)
# The Light Benders (1968) (writing as Jonathan Chance)
# The nowhere place (1969)
# Give Daddy the Knife, Darling (1969)
# The Year Dot (1972)
# The Hole in the World (1974)
# A Spider in the Bath (1975)
# The Laxham Haunting (1976)
# Starseed on Eye Moor (1977)
# A Caller from Overspace (1979)
# Voyage of the Eighth Mind (1980)
# The Power Ball (1981)
# The Terror Version (1982)
# The Vale of Sad Banana (1984)

Wartime

Writing as John Drummond, in The Thriller Library (Amalgamated Press), a "short-lived title from the mid-1930s, running only 24 issues between July 1934 and June 1935". [http://contento.best.vwh.net/paper/t368.htm#A15657]

# Eight Came Back [Red Sword] , (May 18 1940)
# Gestapo Spy Trap [Red Sword] , (Mar 9 1940)
# One Man Air Raid [Red Sword] , (Apr 6 1940)
# The Prisoner Dies at Dawn [Red Sword] , (Mar 23 1940)
# Scourge of the Nazis [Red Sword] , (Apr 20 1940)
# Spy Bait [Red Sword] , (May 4 1940)

exton Blake

As John Drummond, he wrote a number of additions to the Sexton Blake series: [http://www.sextonblake.co.uk/blakebibliography.html] . Note that 'Desmond Reid' appears to have been used as a catch-all pseudonym for this series, so it is possible that certain pieces credited to this name actually originated with him. This list includes only those pieces credited to John Drummond.

# The Essex Road Crime (May 1944), 3rd Series, Issue 71 (illustrated by Eric Parker)
# The Manor House Menace (Jul 1944), 3rd series, Issue 75 (illustrated by Eric Parker)
# The Tragic Case of the Station-Master's Legacy (Sep 1944), 3rd series, Issue 80 (illustrator unknown)
# The Riddle of the Leather Bottle (Oct 1944), 3rd series, Issue 82 (illustrator unknown)
# The Painted Dagger (Dec 1944), 3rd series, Issue 86 (illustrated by Eric Parker)
# The House on the Hill (Mar 1945), 3rd series, Issue 91 (illustrated by Eric Parker)
# At Sixty Miles per Hour (Apr 1945), 3rd series, Issue 94 (illustrator unknown)
# The Riddle of the Mummy Case (Jul 1945), 3rd series, Issue 100 (illustrated by Eric Parker)

Crime/Thriller

An incomplete list of these follows.

As John Newton Chance:

# The Psychic Trap
# The Death Importer
# Involvement in Austria
# Motive for a Kill
# The mask of pursuit (1967)
# The Dead Tale-Tellers
# The Love-hate Relation
# Bad Dream of Death
# Death Under Desolate
# Canterbury Killgrims
# Dead Men's Shoes
# Case of the Fear Makers
# Death Stalks the Cobbled Square
# The Bad Circle
# Twopenny Box
# Eye in Darkness
# Terror Train
# Spy on Spider
# The Man with Two Heads
# The Double Death
# The Monstrous Regiment
# The Cat Watchers
# The Hit Man
# Death Importer
# Death of the Wild Bird
# Death Watch Ladies
# End of an Iron Man
# The Hunting of Mr. Exe
# A Wreath of Bones
# The Running of the Spies
# The Farm Villains
# The Shadow Before
# The Black Widow
# Looking for Samson
# The Shadow in Pursuit
# The Hiller Weapon

TV/Radio/Film adaptations

'Night of the Big Heat' was adapted twice. The first, a 1960 TV adaptation set on Salisbury Plain, was directed by Cyril Coke and adapted from the book by Giles Cooper. The second, Night of the Big Heat (1967 film), was a 94-minute UK feature film set on a remote Scottish island, directed by Terence Fisher and starring Christopher Lee, Patrick Allen and Peter Cushing.

External links

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