Celebrity types
Sick of laptop glitches while working from home? Here, MARION McMULLEN looks back at famous fans of the trusty old typewriter
1964
Novelist Jackie Collins, the younger sister of actress
Dame Joan Collins, had 32 bestselling novels to her name, with eight being adapted for the screen. Her first book The World Is Full Of Married Men was banned in Australia and South Africa and romantic novelist
Barbara Cartland called it “nasty, flithy and disgusting”.
1930
Fan mail from all over the world would pour in for four-legged movie star Rin Tin Tin. The talented German Shepherd appeared in 27 films and was followed by
Rin Tin Tin Jr and Rin Tin Tin II.
The canine star was rescued as a puppy from a First World War battlefield in France by US Air Corporal Lee Duncan and later starred in silent movies.
1979
Academic turned author Tom Sharpe worked on a typewriter in his “den”. The satirical writer of Porterhouse Blue, Wilt and Blott On The Landscape collected antique typewriters and wrote in Wilt: “The man who said the pen was mightier than the sword ought to have tried reading The Mill On The Floss to motor mechanics.”
1962
Oliver! composer Lionel Bart wrote the lyrics to some of his best known songs on his typewriter. The working class East End lad, who penned Food, Glorious Food and Oom Pah-Pah, was also responsible for the Bond theme From Russia With Love and the Cliff Richard hit
Living
Doll.
1964
Who are you calling a dummy? Ventriloquist Ray Alan definitely had the last word when it came to script approval. He found fame with his booze-loving upper class puppet Lord Charles and even performed with Laurel and Hardy. He and Lord Charles made their TV debut on The Good Old Days. Ray also wrote for the Two Ronnies and Tony Hancock.
1933
Blonde bombshell American film star Jean Harlow was born Harlean Carpenter and worked on her novel Today Is Tonight between filming scenes for The Girl from Missouri. The actress died in 1937 and never lived to see the publication of her work in 1965.
1970
Carry On film writer Talbot Rothwell did not have a study and worked on his typewriter in the dining room or a corner of the sitting room at his home in Sussex. He started working on comedy sketches when he was a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 3.
1968
Comedy script writer Johnny Spreigh could work anywhere and even took his typewriter along with him to Spain’s Costa del Sol so he could enjoy a drink and a view of the beach while working. He worked for many British comics and created the character of Alf Garnett in Till Death Us Do Part.
1964
Stingray puppets Commander Shore and Atlanta kept Sylvia Anderson company while she worked at the typewriter. She and her former husband Gerry were responsible for shows like Joe 90 and Fireball XL5. Sylvia was also the voice of Lady Penelope in Thunderbirds.
1950
Crime writer Agatha Christie typed many of her famous Miss Marple and Poirot whodunnit novels at her home in Winterbrook House, Wallingford, Berkshire. She once said: “I’ve always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties.”