David Arscott

David John Arscott (9 December 1942 – 29 November 2024) was a British author, local historian and publisher from Sussex.

Arscott wrote more than 40 books about Sussex, as well as several volumes of the Salariya Book Company's Very Peculiar History series and a number of works of fiction. His 1984 novel The Frozen City has been translated into Japanese. His first venture into political satire, Lady Thatcher's Wink, was published in 2016. As an author, his books are largely held in libraries worldwide.

Arscott worked as a journalist from 1959, first with the Investors Chronicle and the Evening Standard in London and then for the English language paper The Daily Journal in Caracas, Venezuela. Returning to England, he reported for the Dorset Evening Echo. After taking an English degree at Hertford College, Oxford, he joined BBC Radio Brighton as a news producer, switching to general programme production and presentation shortly before the station expanded to become BBC Radio Sussex.

His publishing company, Pomegranate Press, founded in 1992, offered a self-publishing service to other authors. It initially specialised in books with a Sussex theme but later expanded to include the Pomegranate Practicals nutshell guides, fiction and a range of non-fiction titles.

He was also involved in media training with Curtin and Co, working with colleagues in the UK and abroad to coach individuals and groups in improving their skills in front of the microphone and the camera.

Arscott lived in Lewes. He died there, in the grounds of Lewes Priory, on 29 November 2024, at the age of 81.