David Pownall

David Pownall FRSL (19 May 1938 – 21 November 2022) was a British playwright and prolific radio dramatist performed internationally, and novelist translated into several languages.

Life and career David Pownall was born in Liverpool on 19 May 1938. He attended Lord Wandsworth College as a boarder, on a scholarship, and "disliked the place intensely".

As a novelist, Pownall's early work, such as The Raining Tree War (1974) and its sequel African Horse (1975) were comic novels in the mode of Evelyn Waugh. Then came historical fantasies such as White Cutter (1988), The Catalogue of Men (1999) and The Ruling Passion (2008).

Pownall died from prostate cancer at his home in St Briavels, Gloucestershire, on 22 November 2022, aged 84. His wife Alex survived him; they have a son. and Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1976, for the linked novels The Raining Tree War and African Horse Edinburgh Festival Fringe Awards for Music to Murder By (1976) and Richard III Part Two (1977). 1981 John Whiting Award for Beef (1981), radio play. New York Theatre Yearbook: Best Foreign Play on Broadway, and the London Stage Director’s Award for Livingstone and Sechele (1985). All the World Should Be Taxed (1971) As We Lie (1969, Zambia) An Audience Called Edouard (1978, pub. London: Faber and Faber, 1979) Babbage (2013) Barricade (1978) Beauty and the Beast (1973) Beef (1981, one-act radio play); in Best Radio Plays of 1981, London: Methuen Publishing, 1982) Black Star (1987, pub. in Plays Two, London: Oberon Books) Buck Ruxton (1975; pub. in The Lancaster Plays, London: Oberon Books, 2006) Crates on Barrels (1974, pub. in Plays for One Person, London: Oberon Books, 1997) Death of a Faun (1991) Dreams and Censorship (2010, BBC7 radio play) Dinner Dance (1991) The Dream of Chief Crazy Horse (1973, play for children; pub. London: Faber and Faber, 1975) The Edge (1987) Elgar’s Rondo (1993, pub. in The Composer Plays, London: Oberon Books, 1993) Elgar’s Third (1994, BBC Radio 3 radio play; pub. in The Composer Plays, London: Oberon, 1993) Facade (radio play, 2002) Flos (1982) Radio Play published in Radio Plays: Oberon (Modern Playwrights) by David Pownall (Paperback – 21 May 1998) Gaunt (1973, pub. in The Lancaster Plays, London: Oberon Books, 2006) Getting the Picture 1998, London: Oberon Books, 1998) The Hot Hello (1981) How Does the Cukoo Learn to Fly? (1970) How to Grow a Guerrilla (1971) The Human Cartoon Show (1974) Innocent Screams (2009, London: Oberon Books, 2009) King John's Jewel (1987) Ladybird, Ladybird (1986) The Last of the Wizards (1970) Later (1979, pub. in Plays for One Person, London: Oberon Books, 1997) Lile Jimmy Williamson (1975, pub. in The Lancaster Plays, London: Oberon Books, 2006) Lions and Lambs (1973) Livingstone and Sechele (1978) Master Class (1983 - Re: Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Joseph Stalin; London: Faber and Faber, 1983) Motocar (1977; London: Faber and Faber, 1979) Music to Murder By (1976; London: Faber and Faber, 1978) My Father's House (1991, pub. in Plays Two, London: Oberon Books) Nijinsky: Death of a Faun (1991, London: Oberon Books, 1997) Ploughboy Monday (1985), radio play Pride and Prejudice (1983) The Pro (1975) Q (1965, Zambia) Richard III, Part Two (1977, Edinburgh Fringe Festival; London, Faber and Faber, 1979) Rousseau's Tale (1990, Plays for One Person, London: Oberon Books, 1997) Seconds at the Fight for Madrid (1978) A Tale of Two Town Halls (1976, pub. in The Lancaster Plays, London: Oberon Books, 2006) The Viewing (1987, pub. in Plays Two, London: Oberon Books)