James Kennaway


James Kennaway was a Scottish novelist and screenwriter. He was born in Auchterarder in Perthshire and attended Glenalmond College.

Career

His best known novel was his first, Tunes of Glory, which was turned into a well-known film of the same name starring Alec Guinness and John Mills. It was a realistic work, set in the army just after the Second World War, and drawing to some extent on Kennaway's own experiences. This was not typical of his later output, some of which was more experimental in nature.
His other works were Household Ghosts, The Mindbenders, The Bells of Shoreditch, Some Gorgeous Accident, The Cost of Living like This and Silence - the final two works were posthumous. Household Ghosts was adapted as a feature film entitled Country Dance, while a short story, The Dollar Bottom, was adapted as a short film, winning an Academy Award in 1981.
A stage adaptation of Some Gorgeous Accident was presented at the Assembly Rooms as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2010.
He was also a successful screenwriter. His films include Violent Playground, Tunes of Glory, The Mind Benders and Battle of Britain.
Kennaway died of a heart attack while driving home to Lechlade, Gloucestershire from London at the age of 40.