Hannen Swaffer

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Hannen Swaffer (born November 1, 1879 in Lindfield , Sussex , England , † January 16, 1962 in London ) was a British journalist and theater critic .

Life

Swaffer attended Stroud Green Grammar School in Kent and began working as a theater critic at an early age. Because of his often harsh reviews, he was denied access to the local theater at the age of 18; he later boasted that he was banned from twelve of the forty-one theaters in London's West End. From 1902 he worked for the Daily Mail , the boss of which Lord Northcliffe made him editor of the Weekly Dispatch and whom he supported in transforming the Daily Mirror from a women's magazine to a mass newspaper. He was then a theater critic ( Plays and Players section ) for the Sunday Times, in 1924 he was briefly editor of The People magazine and from 1926 a critic of the Daily Express , where he took action against what he saw as the exaggerated Americanization of British theater. From 1931 he worked for the Daily Herald .

Hannen Swaffer was a socialist , but left the Labor Party in 1957 . He was also a spiritualist . It is said that he wrote about a million words a year. His apodictic statements earned him the nickname "The Pope of Fleet Street".

Publications

  • 1925: Northcliffe's Return
  • 1929: Really Behind the Scenes
  • 1929: Hannen Swaffer's Who's Who
  • 1929: Adventures with Inspiration
  • 1934: When Men Talk Truth
  • 1936: The power of the press
  • 1938: A British art critic in republican Spain
  • 1945: My Greatest Story
  • 1946: What Would Nelson Do?
  • 1962: My talks with the dead
  • 1969: Introduction to Estelle Roberts (previously written): Fifty years a medium . Reprint 2006, ISBN 1-905961-03-0 .

Filmography

  • 1934: Death at Broadcasting House
  • 1935: Late Extra
  • 1941: Spellbound

literature

  • Tom Driberg: Swaff: Life and Times of Hannen Swaffer . Macdonald, London 1974, ISBN 0-356-04369-X .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Swaffer, Hannen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British journalist and theater critic
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Lindfield , Sussex , England
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1962
Place of death London