- Jeremy Sandford
Jeremy Sandford (
December 5 1930 –May 12 2003 ) was an Englishtelevision writer who came to prominence in 1966 with "Cathy Come Home ", his controversial entry in BBC1's "The Wednesday Play " anthology strand which was directed byKen Loach . Later, in 1971, he wrote another successful one-off, "Edna, the Inebriate Woman " for "The Wednesday Play"'s successor series "Play for Today ".Life
Sandford was born in
London and brought up atEye Manor inHerefordshire , home of his father,Christopher Sandford , who was the owner of theGolden Cockerel Press . His mother wasLettice Sandford . Sandford went to school at Eton and then went toOxford University . He married heiressNell Dunn in 1957. They gave up their smart Chelsea home and went to live in unfashionableBattersea where they joined and observed the lower strata of society, and from this experience he published the play "Cathy Come Home " in 1963, and his wife, Nell, wrote "Up the Junction ".In 1968, Sandford won a
Jacob's Award for the TV production of "Cathy Come Home".Sandford became interested in gypsy causes and for a time edited their news sheet, "
Romano Drom " ("Gypsy Road"). He travelled the country seeking out gypsy stories, published as "The Gypsies", and later reissued as "Rokkering to the Gorjios" ("Talking to the non-Gypsies").Jeremy Sandford and his wife
Nell Dunn were divorced in 1979 after having had three sons together.He died at his home, Hatfield Court in
Herefordshire , at the age of seventy-two. His last words were "I think I'll have a rest now."References
*Obituary, "
The Independent ", London,May 15 2003 p20.
*Obituary, "The Times ", London,May 15 2003 p39.
*"Jeremy Sandford", Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University PressExternal links
* [http://www.dicegeorge.com/psb/jeremys.htm Memorial page to Jeremy Sandford] .
* [http://www.jeremysandford.org.uk fanclub with lots of his unpublished writings]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.