28/03/06 - Colin Dexter
100 keen Inspector Morse fans turned out in force to listen to the well-known crime writer Colin Dexter when he spoke at Bracknell Library on Tuesday 28th March. The audience was soon captivated by Colin’s charm and wit as he began by telling us how a lady in Waterstone’s bookshop in Liverpool thought he was the star of ‘One Foot in the Grave’ and how even he finds it difficult to understand the plots of the Inspector Morse TV repeats (although he enjoys receiving the royalty cheques)! Colin went on to enthral the audience with tales of his adventures doing book signings and with stories of his travels around the UK.
Colin had to give up teaching in 1966 when he became deaf and then took up the post of Supervisor of ‘O’, ‘A’ and ‘S’ level examinations for the Oxford University Examining Board. Soon after, on holiday in North Wales, he wrote his very first page of a book of fiction. He agreed that starting to write was difficult but suggested always keeping in mind the famous Latin Motto ‘’Initium est dimidium facti’ (Beginning is one half of the deed).
Writers should always draw upon their own experiences, with something changed to make the story more interesting, advised Colin. He cited as an example the story of an acquaintance of his who went for an interview for the post of Headmaster at a school in Northants. After the interview, the interviewee telephoned his wife from a pub where he had had a couple of drinks (she could tell he had been drinking although he was over 100 miles from her) and when he left the pub he was propositioned by an attractive young lady to whom he said an emphatic ‘No’. Colin used this as the basis for one of his books, changing the ‘No’ to a ‘Yes’ and after publication of the book he was surprised to receive a phone call from a Northants school secretary saying “How did you know?”
After becoming deaf, Colin took evening classes in Lip Reading and his book ‘The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn’ portrays how easily mistakes can be made whilst trying to lip read. The fact that consonants ‘P’, ‘B’ and ‘M’ present particular problems was brought home to the audience with the story of the caretaker trying to inform the evening class, “There is a bomb in the building”, when all the class had been told to remove their hearing aids.
All Colin’s fiction is written longhand, never on a typewriter or computer. Now he is retired he restricts his writing to reviews and short stories. Colin ended his talk by reading a letter which was sent to him several years ago by a fan of his in Reading. She had been having an argument with her husband about whether Colin was still alive or not and concluded the letter by asking Colin to ‘reply if you can’ and enclosed a stamped addressed envelope.
After questions from the audience, everyone was invited to have light refreshments. Colin spent time signing books (sold and displayed by Ottakers Bookshop: Bracknell) and chatting to his fans. We thanked Colin very much for providing such an interesting and entertaining evening. We hope Colin will come back and visit Bracknell again soon. His next publications are to be a book on crosswords and a book of short stories.
- Janet Welch: Stock Services and Reader Development Librarian
A few of the many comments received about the event:
‘Such a charming man! I loved his stories and his wicked smile. Can he come back please’? Mrs Kenesworth: Bracknell
‘Brilliant, entertaining and thought provoking speaker. Could have listened to him and his stories for hours. Very twinkly smile’ Ann Lloyd: Wokingham
‘An enjoyable evening – Colin captivated his audience’ T. Brockwell: Bracknell
‘Brilliant and entertaining evening’ Linda Cook: Bracknell
A brief History of Colin
Colin Dexter was born in Stamford, Lincs, in 1930, winning a scholarship to Stamford School in 1941, where he studied Latin and Greek in the Classical Sixth. He did his National Service in the Royal Signals (as a high speed Morse operator!) before going up to Christ's College, Cambridge to read Classics. From 1953-66 he taught Latin and Greek in the Midlands (Leicester, Loughborough, Corby), and was appointed to the University's Schools Examination Board in 1966, where he supervised 0-, A-,and S-level exams in Classics and English, until his retirement in 1988.
He had been co-author of three General Studies text-books in the 60s (published by Robert Maxwell!), with his first work of fiction, featuring the beer-drinking, crossword- solving Detective Inspector Morse, published in 1975. There followed great success for the subsequent Morse investigations: and 33 episodes were televised between 1987-2000, with John Thaw as Morse, and Kevin Whately as Lewis.
He has been awarded many honours, including the coveted Diamond Dagger for services to crime-writing; an OBE for services to literature; the Freedom of the City of Oxford; and an honorary fellowship at St. Cross College, Oxford.
In his younger days he was a keen hockey and tennis player; but he does not wish to see any further cricket if it is as nerve-racking as the latest Ashes series. In the cross-word world he has on several occasions been the national or joint-national champion during the Ximenes and Azed eras; and his two fictional detectives were named after two of his arch rivals in the field: Sir Jeremy Morse and Mrs B. Lewis. He lists his hobbies as reading the poets, listening to Wagner, and solving crosswords.
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