Giles Cooper in 1952
Giles Cooper OBE (9 August 1918 - 2 December 1966) was a highly respected British dramatist.
His 30+ original plays for radio were innovative and ground-breaking. He was a pioneer in writing for the broadcast media, becoming prolific in both radio and television drama.
The first of his radio plays to make his reputation was Mathry Beacon (1956) about a small detachment of men and women still guarding a Top Secret "missile deflector" somewhere in Wales, years after the war has ended. Also of note is Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1958) in which a young teacher finds his predecessor has been murdered by the boys in his class.
The Giles Cooper Awards instituted in 1978 and running until 1991 was Britain's most coveted prize for radio drama.
Radio Plays
- Thieves Rush In 29.3.50
- The Forgotten Rotten Borough 19.6.50
- Never Get Out 3.7.50
- The Timbimbo Craze 18.11.50
- Small Fortune 14.4.51
- The Private Line 6.8.51
- The Owl and the Pussycat 15.2.53
- The Sound of Cymbals 16.1.55
- The Volunteer 21.4.56
- Mathry Beacon 21.6.56
- The Disagreeable Oyster 15.8.57
- Without the Grail 13.1.58
- Dangerous Word 12.5.58
- Under the Loofah Tree 3.8.58
- All for Three Days 26.10.58
- Unman, Wittering and Zigo 23.11.58
- Part of the View 12.2.59
- Caretaker 20.4.59
- Before the Monday 4.6.59
- Crown of Gold 7.7.59
- Pig in the Middle 4.10.60
- The Return of General Forefinger 25.7.61
- A Perfectly Ghastly Joke 27.4.62
- I Gotta Universe 15.8.63
- All the Way Home 13.09.63
- The Object 17.04.64
- The Lonesome Road 22.5.64
- The Freewheelers 6.1.65
- Where the Party Ended 24.3.65
- Something from the Sea 18.3.66
- Carried by Storm 19.12.66
- Kittens are Brave by Giles Cooper 1969
- Everything in the Garden 01.12.86
Adaptations
- Brass Farthing by Rupert Croft-Cooke 23.06.1951
- Three Names For Nicholas by Rupert Croft-Cooke 05.01.1952
- The Happiest Days Of Your Life by John Dighton 05.07.1952
- Dolly Reforming Herself by Henry Arthur Jones 01.11.1952
- The Feast by Margaret Kennedy 17.01.1953
- One Night In Styria by David Howarth 20.12.1961
References
Article 'Giles Cooper: the medium as moralist' by Frances Gray