John Hadfield

John Charles Heywood Hadfield (16 June 1907 – 10 October 1999) was a British writer and publisher, best known for his 1959 comic novel Love on a Branch Line.[1]

This article is about the author. For the musician, see John Hadfield (musician).

Birth and early life

Born in Birmingham, he moved to Suffolk just before the closure of the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway branch line from Haughley to Laxfield and it was this that is said to have inspired the novel Love on a Branch Line.[2]

After leaving school Hadfield worked as an editor at the publishing firm J. M. Dent in London. During the Second World War he was a Book Officer for the British Council and formed a unit translating books into Arabic. After the war he founded the Cupid Press, which specialised in limited-edition anthologies of verse.[2] In 1957 he published A Book of Britain, an anthology of words and pictures covering 500 years of art, articles and poems celebrating the best of British culture.

Following the success of Love on a Branch Line, he and his wife Anna McMullen bought Barham Manor in Suffolk.[1]

Death

John Hadfield died on 10 October 1999 at the age of 92.

References
  1. Hawtree, Christopher (26 November 1999). "John Hadfield" – via www.theguardian.com.
  2. "John Hadfield, 92, Whose Book on British Life Became a TV Series". 8 November 1999 – via NYTimes.com.


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