Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books: A quick guide
Two internationally celebrated humorists, Michael Flanders and Stephen Potter, made their home in Chiswick, though not at the time of their best-known creations. The wit and wordplay of Michael Flanders has been compared with that of WS Gilbert and Stephen Potter’s concepts of Gamesmanship and One-Upmanship have passed into the language.
Michael Flanders
From the Writers Trail
27. Michael Flanders OBE 1922-1975. Writer: comic songs and opera librettos, actor, performer (with Donald Swann) and disability campaigner. At The Drop of A Hat including The Gnu Song, The Hippopotamus Song, A Transport of Delight. Lived in Bedford Park 1971-5. Ashes scattered in Chiswick House Gardens. Michael Flanders Centre in Acton founded in his honour.
63 Esmond Road, W4 – Ealing Civic Society plaque (Private house, no access)
Read more at: ‘Writers Tales’
Michael Flanders – Wikipedia
Rediscovering my father – Stephanie Flanders, BBC News
Ealing Civic Society – Plaque for Michael Flanders
Michael Flanders in Chiswick
Michael Flanders was a writer and performer of comic songs and opera librettos, as well as an actor, broadcaster and disability campaigner. With pianist Donald Swann, his live theatre shows At The Drop of A Hat and At The Drop of Another Hat were huge hits in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1971 to 1975, he lived at 63 Esmond Road, Bedford Park, with his wife Claudia and daughters Laura and Stephanie Flanders who both became prominent journalists. Ealing Civic Society has erected a green plaque on the house which was formally unveiled in 2022, followed by a Chiswick Book Festival event.
Michael Flanders contracted polio in 1943 while serving in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and for the rest of his life was reliant on a wheelchair. His ashes are scattered in the gardens of Chiswick House, where he loved to sit in the afternoons. After Michael’s death in 1975, Claudia was asked to open the ‘Michael Flanders Centre‘ in Acton and founded the charity Tripscope to champion better transport and access for the disabled. He was one of the few performers to be seen on stage in a wheelchair and Flanders and Swann have been called the most influential comedy double act in British culture, ahead of Morecambe & Wise, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore and the Two Ronnies.
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Stephen Potter
From the Writers Trail
21. Stephen Potter 1900-1969. Author: novels, biographies (DH Lawrence), parody self-help books. Gamesmanship, Oneupmanship. BBC TV series Oneupmanship, with Richard Briers as Stephen Potter. Lived Chiswick Mall on & off 1927-51.
Thames Bank and No 2 Riverside, Chiswick Mall, W4 (private houses, no access)
Read more at: ‘Writers Tales’
Stephen Potter – Wikipedia
Oneupmanship – family website
BBC series: Oneupmanship
Stephen Potter in Chiswick
Stephen Potter was a lecturer in English at London University and BBC producer, who wrote a novel and studies of DH Lawrence and Coleridge, but found fame through his self-help parody, Gamesmanship, which purported to show how poor players can beat better ones by subtle psychological ploys. This became an international best-seller and led to a series of sequels and screen adaptations. He lived at Riverside House, 2 Chiswick Mall, and Thames Bank Villa from 1928 to 1942, though the BBC transferred him to Manchester for some of this time. ‘The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship or The Art of Winning Games Wihout Actually Cheating’ was written in 1947, followed by Lifemanship (1950), One-Upmanship (1952) and Supermanship (1958). The books were adapted for the cinema in the 1960s (as School For Scoundrels, scripted by Peter Ustinov) and for television in the 1970s, starring Richard Briers, another Chiswick resident famous for comedy.
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Chiswick Timeline Writers Trail
Read more stories via the Writers Tales page.
The Chiswick Timeline of Writers & Books lists almost 500 writers who have written a book and lived in Chiswick W4, or written books about the area. See A Quick Guide.