BIOGRAPHY OF FRANK TILSLEY

Wanganui Chronicle, 25 February 1947, Page 6

BIOGRAPHY OF FRANK TILSLEY

Frank Tilsley is 42, has two children. and lives in Beckenham, Kent—"a few hundred yards over the County of London border.” i The famous British book of refer- : ence, "Who's Who." use to publish a list, of sixteen jobs Mr. Tilsley had held at one time or another, j from art dealer to company director; in the mlerests of paper economy this has now been compressed into the omnibus plirase . . . "has worked at. a wide variety of jobs Including accountancy. • shop-keeping, school - teaching, journalism.” Add to this the fact that he has lived in more than a dozen places up and down Britain and the conclusion seems to be a restless and inquiring nature. He claims now to have settled down; perhaps five years' service with Britain's Royal Air Force has emphasised the virtues of settled domestic life. Short, dark, full of vitality, Tilsley is a rather unusual combination of North country bluntness and cosmopolitan suavity. He can agree with anybody if he is not in the mood Io argue, and your first, impression of him is one of amiability, courtesy and anxiety to have your relationship run smoothly and pleasantly. But cut. across one of his firmly-held principles and you will find few men who can "talk straight”—in the idiom of his own Lancashire —with such fire and force. He is one of the few authors who can be really clear sighted about his own work. Recently he cancelled pubishers’ rights to reprint two ot his earlier hooks, explaining that one was "bosh" and the other "not fit to be read—misleading and inaccurate.” Mainly a novelist, Mr. Tilsley occasionally turns to journalism —usually factual surveys—broadcasting, and script, writing for the British Broadcasting Corporation. One of his most popular novels. “Pleasure Beach," has recently been bought for a film.