BROME, (Herbert) Vincent 1910-2004

OBITUARY NOTICE— See index for CA sketch: Born July 14, 1910, in London, England; died October 16, 2004, in London, England. Journalist, editor, and author. Brome was a respected and prolific author of novels, plays, radio and television scripts, and articles, but he was best known for his biographies. When he failed to earn a college scholarship, his father got him a job at a tea broker's. But Brome had higher aspirations, and at the age of eighteen left his job to try and earn a living as a freelance author. He found early success writing short stories and he aspired to writing novels. However, fiction did not bring in a great deal of income, so he wrote articles for various newspapers and magazines, was a feature writer for the London Daily Chronicle in the early 1930s, and took editorial jobs, including as an assistant editor for Medical World in the mid-1940s and as editor of Menu. During the early 1940s he also wrote feature articles for England's Ministry of Information. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, however, Brome was enjoying success as a biographer, writing such books as Clement Attlee (1949), H. G. Wells (1951), and Aneurin Bevan: A Biography (1953). Setting up an office in the North Library of the British Museum, he would spend much of his life there, producing over three dozen novels and many other books besides. Among his novels are Acquaintance with Grief (1954), The Embassy (1967), The Revolution (1969), and The Day of the Fifth Moon (1984). He also wrote plays, such as Men at Large (1967), which was produced in Edinburgh, and released a variety of nonfiction, including The International Brigades: Spain, 1936-39 (1965) and Reverse Your Verdict: A Collection of Private Prosecutions (1971). His most recent works were mostly biographies and include Havelock Ellis: Philosopher of Sex (1979), Ernest Jones: Freud's Alter Ego (1982), J. B. Priestly (1988), and The Other Pepys (1992).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

periodicals

Independent (London, England), October 26, 2004, p. 34.

Times (London, England), October 21, 2004, p. 72.