BIOGRAPHY

Alan McMurtrie was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1939. After a wartime infancy & the death of his mother, he was brought to London in 1946 & fostered. An LCC scholarship to a minor public school was followed by a state scholarship to Wadham College, Oxford.

He knew some early success as a writer of radio & screen plays, but needed additional employment to nurture his young family. Over the years he taught adults at every educational level, from ESN (HMP Pentonville) to PhD (University of North London). He has taught English Literature of every period & genre from Langland to Larkin, & also Critical Theory & Creative Writing.

His anti-apartheid two-hander The Prisoner’s Pumpkin (1989) was voted Best Play at the London New Play Festival of 1992.

Since early retirement, he has more time for writing.

Alan McMurtrie has been married twice & has three children & four grandchildren.

Why this site? So many friends have asked for more access to my work, recent & past, & this seems the modern (& simplest) way to offer it.

Why must I charge? Not to eat & have a roof. Having worked in academia for forty years, I have a competence. But a small fee confirms acceptance of my copyright(s) & helps pay for this site.

Commerce has overtaken the Arts at all levels, delimiting themes & genres, prescribing structures & a dumbing-down. A website can sidestep the commercial gate-keepers.

However, protection of copyright on line is if anything a trickier problem than in traditional publication, & the blessed basket (implying a contract) is (one hopes) a legal & practical solution.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Big thanks to the Sound Technicians who were patient with me: Thomas Puls for Tommy, Mallory's Camera, Cleopatra, Changing Trains. Keith Rodway for Oastie with the Moastie, Four Old Fogies, Tiger in the Cakeshop, Tanpura, McGonagall in Limbo, Anglo-Saxon Values, & Life without Mirrors.

For photos, I must thank: David Monk, June Mary Davies, Katya Bloom, Imke McMurtrie, Jane Edington.

For help in setting up this website, I thank Eric Peuget.

For the background spade-work on the real McGonagall, I thank David Phillips & Norman Watson.

Thanks also to my many & various audiences for energy & support.