Novelist and playwright John Wiles died from cancer on April 5 at the age of 73. He was born in Kimberley. South Africa, and began his career working in the theatre in Cape Town. He also wrote several highly-praised radio plays.
He came to England in 1949 to further his career and wrote a novel, The Moon to Play With. After it won the John Llewellyn Rees Award, the BBC took him on as a scriptwriter.
Wiles contributed to various series of the times such as Warship and Dixon of Dock Green and later became a producer. notably on Doctor Who, when William Hartnell played the title role.
On leaving the BBC he wrote a play, Act of Hardness, produced at the Q Theatre and the Edinburgh Festival. His second play, Family on Trial, had its premiere at the original Guildford Rep, and was also shown on television.
His best play, Blood and Roses, was put on by the RSC, with John Wood in the lead. Wiles then went to direct it at the leading theatre in Dusseldorf when the original German director fell ill. It was a great success. He also wrote plays for young people, one of which, The Golden Mask of Agamemnon, has been performed in schools all over the world, as well as for a few years at the Minack open air theatre in Cornwall.
Wiles was a warm-hearted and generous person and will be much missed by his friends and loved ones.
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