Dick Sharples(1927-2015)

Richard Sharples was born in Manchester on 7 June 1927 and began his professional career as a cartoonist for a local advertising firm. He wrote his first novel, a Western called 'The Man Who Rode by Night' whilst still a teen-ager and in 1955 went to work as a writer for the recently-formed ITV network. He was instrumental in converting the Screenwriters Association into a fully fledged union which became the Writers Guild of Great Britain. A versatile writer he contributed scripts to popular dramas like 'Z Cars' and 'The Saint' as well as penning several sitcoms, including two for Thora Hird, 'In Loving Memory', set in an undertakers and the Salvation Army based 'Hallelujah!' He also wrote seven novels, including a pastiche of 'A Year in Provence', called 'A Year in Muswell Hill' and four plays. Dick Sharples died in University College hospital, London on 19th October 2015.