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Literary Connections
DETAILS OF SOME WELL KNOWN LITERARY FIGURES INSPIRED BY THEIR CONNECTION WITH EASTERN ESSEX
Robert Barnard AUTHOR
Born as Jerry Bauer on 23 November 1936 he grew up in Burnham-on-Crouch before leaving for a University education which launched a glittering career as an author.
As Robert Barnard he is the author of 36 novels featuring the characters Perry Trethowan, Charlie Peach and Oddie.
Click here to visit Robert Barnards homepage
Samuel Levy Bensusan AUTHOR
Samuel Bensusan ( b.1873 -d.1958) lived at Asheldham and St Lawrence . He became famous for novels centred on a fictitious village called Maychester which were affectionate portrayals of life in the Essex Marshes.
Tanya Brown AUTHOR
Click here for more details of Tanya Brown
Mick Cawston PAINTER
Click here to learn more about Mick Cawston
Daniel Defoe AUTHOR
Alice Maud Fanner PAINTER
Born 1865 Died 1930
Alice Fanner was a renowned painter specialising in marine landscapes.
She was tutored by Julius Olsson and exhibited paintings at many galleries including the Royal Academy.
She lived in St Ives, Cornwall and London but in 1914 she moved to Burnham on Crouch where she painted the landscape and the yachting scene.
She married Mr A E Taite.
Her paintings include The Seaside, Provenance, In the Luxembourg garden, Bogiaco, Lake Garda and yachts racing
Click her to view her painting yachts racing
Sir Henry Rider Haggard KBE AUTHOR born 1856 died 1925 In 1904 H Rider Haggard wrote his famous novel - the Brethren which was starts at St Peters Chapel, Bradwell and is set in Stansgate Abbey, Steeple
Alfred Hitchcock FILM DIRECTOR
Born 1899 died 1980 .
When asked, by the Times Newspaper, the inspiration for his atmospheric films he cited his experience from a Visit to Burnham on Crouch in November.
Arthur Kitching ARTIST
Born 1912 Died 1981
A celebrated artist who painted in oil or pen an ink showing people and places around him
He lived in Burnham in the early 1950's with his wife Joyce and painted the area and its people whilst his wife worked locally as a teacher.
During his stay in Burnham he painted ' joyce' , 'Continental Sunday' ,' still life with chrysanthemums and Maldon.
Click here to learn more about Arthur Kitching
Martyn Lambourne AUTHOR
Martyn lived in Burnham for several years before moving to Scotland in 2001 . He is a man of many talents which include architect, illustrator and author but he is best known as the author of THE QUEST a Zetic treasure hunt .
This novel which contained many clues that readers must solve to win a prize of £30,000. Despite many claims the puzzle has yet to be solved.
Click here to visit Martyn's homepage John Milne Author John Milne was born in Bermondsey, 1952 and trained as a painter but
only after false starts as a policeman and a factory worker. He lives
in Bradwell on Sea, Essex. He is the author of Dead Birds, The Moody
Man and Daddy's Girl. His TV scriptwriting credits include: Bergerac,
Eastenders, Lovejoy, The Bill, Boon, Taggart, Wycliffe and Silent
Witness. He won the 1998 Edgar Award for an episode of Silent Witness.
H G Wells AUTHOR
Tanya who was born just outside Burnham allows her memories of the area to feature in her writing .
In 1998 A gap in the landscape featured a section on memories of the marshes at Burnham Wick.
Mick Cawston was born in 1959 at Dagenham, Essex he moved to a farm cottage in Burnham on Crouch in about 1983 and sold his paintings in local markets. By 1987 he became an established artist recognised as the No1 Dog and Horse painter in the country. Mick has had many exhibitions and his works hang in Galleries all over the world.
Some of his painting is still to be found enlivening homes in Burnham and a fine example of his work is often admired by patients visiting the surgery of the much respected GP Dr Latif.
From 1724-1726 Author Daniel Defoe travelled the Country recording his trek in " Tour through the whole island of Great Britain". His remarks on Burnham and the Dengie 100 were limited to ' the strange decay of sex' with an explanation that many men had numerous wives who they took from the uplands but the wives rarely survived in the fog and damps of the marshland and died within a year or so at which the men just went back to the uplands and got another wife.
Alfred Hitchcock was born and brought up in the East End .
Would North by North West , Psycho or the Birds have been made without a visit to Burnham?
In his classic book War of the Worlds HG Wells used the area as a setting for his Martian invasion.
" Then far away beyond the Crouch, came another striding over some stunted trees, and then yet another still farther off wading deeply through a shiny mud flat half way up between sea and sky. By midday they passed through Tillingham, which strangely enough seemed silent and deserted, save for a few furtive plunderers hunting for food. Near Tillingham they suddenly came into sight of the sea, and the most amazing crowd of shipping of all sorts that it is possible to imagine."
