Melvyn Bragg Biography (1939-)

Born October 6, 1939, in Wigton, Cumberland, England; son of Stanley (a shopkeeper) and Ethel (maiden name, Parks) Bragg; married Marie-Elisabeth Roche, June 26, 1961 (died September 1, 1971); married Catherine Mary Haste (a writerand television producer and director), December 18, 1974; children: (first marriage) Marie-Elsa; (second marriage) one daughter, one son. Addresses: Office: 12 Hampstead Hill Gardens, London, England NW3.

Nationality: British
Gender: Male
Occupation: Writer, broadcaster, editor
Birth Details: October 6, 1939; Wigton, Cumberland, England

Famous Works

CREDITS
Television Appearances
Series
Presenter, In the Picture, Tyne Tees Television, 1971
Presenter, Second House, BBC, 1973-77
Presenter, Read All about It, BBC, 1976-77
Presenter, The South Bank Show, Independent Television (ITV; England), 1978-?, Bravo (United States)
Melvyn Bragg's Cumbria, 1983
The Sundays, 1998
Two Thousand Years, ITV, 1999
Who's Afraid of the Ten Commandments?, ITV, 2000
Specials
Laurence Olivier: A Life, 1982
Richard Burton: In from the Cold, PBS, 1989
Paris Live! The French Revolution Bicentennial, Arts and Entertainment, 1989
Sir Norbert Smith: A Life (also known as Norbert Smith: A Life), PBS, 1990
Himself, A British Picture (also known as British Picture: Portrait of an Enfant Terrible), 1989
Kiri Te Kanawa, 1991
Himself, Bernard and the Genie, BBC, 1991
The Andrew Lloyd Webber Story, Arts and Entertainment, 1992
Francis Bacon, PBS, 1992
Seamus Heaney, Bravo, 1992
Presenter and interviewer, An Interview with Dennis Potter (also known as Without Walls: An Interview with Dennis Potter), Channel 4 (England), 1994
Himself, The 100 Greatest TV Moments, Channel 4, 1999
Chair, The Darwin Debate, BBC2, 1999
Episodic
Have I Got News for You, 1994
Clive Anderson Talks Back, 1994
Have I Got News for You, 1995
Fantasy Football League, 1996
Television Work
Series
Producer, Monitor, BBC, 1963
Editor, New Release (also known as Review and Arena), BBC2, 1964-?
Editor, Writers World, BBC2, 1964-?
Editor, Take It or Leave It, BBC2, 1964-?
Editor, Read All about It, BBC, 1976-77
Editor, The South Bank Show, Independent Television, 1978-, Bravo
Specials
Editor, Laurence Olivier: A Life, 1982
Editor, The Planets, 1983
Editor, Maria Callas: An Operatic Biography, PBS, 1988
Editor, The Andrew Lloyd Webber Story, Arts and Entertainment, 1992
Editor, Francis Bacon, PBS, 1992
Co-producer (with Gavin Miller) of An Artist's Story
Miniseries
Editor, The Modern World: Ten Great Writers, 1988

Radio Appearances
Presenter, Start the Week, BBC Radio 4, 1988-c. 1998
Giants' Shoulders, c. 1999
Also appeared on The Routes of English and In Our Time.
Film Appearances
(As Melvin Bragg) Himself, The Kids Are Alright, 1979
Presenter, Vaughan Williams, 1986
The Tall Guy, 1989
Film Work
Editor, This Is Not an Exit: The Fictional World of Bret Easton Ellis, 1999
Executive producer of Hullabaloo over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures
Stage Appearances
Narrator, Let Us Go Then, You and I, Lyric Studio Theatre, London,England, 1986
RECORDINGS
Videos
Appeared in Land of the Lakes: The Place and the People, Land of the Lakes: The Opening Up, and Land of the Borders, all StridingEdge.
WRITINGS
Screenplays
(With Lotte Colin) Play Dirty (based on a story by George Marton),United Artists, 1968
(With Clive Exton and Margaret Drabble) Isadora (also known as The Loves of Isadora; based on My Life, by Isadora Duncan, and Isadora Duncan: An Intimate Portrait, by Sewell Stokes), Universal, 1969
The Music Lovers (also known as Ken Russell's Film on Tchaikovsky and the Music Lovers; based on the novel Beloved Friend byCatherine Drinker Bowen and Barbara Von Meck), United Artists, 1971
(With Norman Jewison) Jesus Christ Superstar (based on the rock opera of the same name with book and lyrics by Tim Rice, music by Andrew LloydWebber), Universal, 1973
Television Movies
(With Ken Russell) The Debussy File, 1963
Always on Sunday, 1965
Charity Begins at Home, 1970
Zinotchka, 1972
Orion, 1977
(With Ken Russell) Clouds of Glory, ITV, 1978
Classic Windows, 1995
Television Series
Monitor, 1963
Plays
Prince of Wales, 1976
Mardi Gras, produced in London, 1976
(Libretto with Howard Goodall) The Hired Man: A Musical (adapted from Bragg's novel The Hired Man), produced at Astoria Theatre, London, England, 1984
King Lear in New York, produced in London and Chichester, 1992
Radio Plays
Robin Hood, 1971
Novels
For Want of a Nail, Secker & Warburg (London), Knopf (New YorkCity), 1965
The Second Inheritance, Secker & Warburg, Knopf, 1967
Without a City Wall, Secker & Warburg, Knopf, 1969
The Hired Man, Secker & Warburg, Knopf, 1970
A Place in England, Secker & Warburg, Knopf, 1971
The Nerve, Secker & Warburg, 1971
The Hunt, Secker & Warburg, 1972
Josh Lawton, Secker & Warburg, Knopf, 1972
The Silken Net, Secker & Warburg, Knopf, 1974
Autumn Manoeuvres, Secker & Warburg, 1978
Kingdom Come, Secker & Warburg, 1980
Love and Glory, Secker & Warburg, 1983
The Maid of Buttermere, Hodder & Stoughton (London), Putnam (New York City), 1987
A Time to Dance, Hodder & Stoughton, Little, Brown (Boston), 1992
Crystal Rooms, Hodder & Stoughton, 1992
Credo, Sceptre (London), published in the U.S. as The Miracle and the Sword, Random (New York City), 1997
The Soldier's Return, 1999
Nonfiction
Speak for England: An Essay on England 1900-1975, Secker & Warburg (London), 1976, published in the U.S. as Speak for England: An Oral History of England 1900-1975, Knopf (New York), 1977
Land of the Lakes, Secker & Warburg, 1983, Norton (New York City), 1984
The Seventh Seal: Ingmar Bergman, BFI Publishing, 1993
On Giants' Shoulders, 1998
Biography
Laurence Olivier, Hutchinson (London), 1984, St. Martin's (NewYork), 1985
Rich: The Life of Richard Burton, Hodder & Stoughton (London),1988, published in the U.S. as Richard Burton: A Life, Little, Brown(Boston), 1988
Other
A Christmas Child (for children), Secker & Warburg (London), 1976
Also contributor to numerous periodicals and journals.

Further Reference

ADAPTATIONS

Bragg's novel A Time to Dance 1989. was adapted into a television movie and broadcast on BBC-TV in 1992.

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Bestsellers 89, Issue 3, Gale,
Contemporary Authors New Revision Series, 1983. Volume 10, Gale,
Contemporary Novelists 1996., 6th ed., St. James Press,
Twentieth Century Romance & Historical Writers 1994., 3rd ed.,St. James Press,

Periodicals

Publishers Weekly, February 3, 1989, pp. 83-84.
Sunday Times Review January 26, 1992. (London),

User Contributions:

Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic:

forum