Turner, Barry 1937–

PERSONAL:

Born October 4, 1937, in London, England; son of Lawrence and Esther Turner; married Mary Fulton; children: two. Education: Attended London School of Economics and Political Science, 1958-61, and London Institute of Education, 1961-62; Ph.D., 1966.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. Agent—Michael Alcock, Johnson and Alcock, Clerkenwell House, 45-47 Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0HT, England.

CAREER:

Writer and educator. Worked as a journalist for London Observer; affiliated with Macmillan beginning in the 1970s; visiting lecturer in English at Birmingham City University; founder and chair of National Academy of Writing. Military service: British Army, 1956-58, commissioned into Manchester Regiment.

MEMBER:

Society of Authors (member of management committee, 1991-94).

AWARDS, HONORS:

The Statesman's Yearbook: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World was named one of the top fifty reference sources of the millennium by Library Journal, 1999.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(With William van der Eyken) Adventures in Education, Allen Lane (London, England), 1969.

Free Trade and Protection, Longman (Harlow, England), 1971.

A Place in the Country, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 1972.

Sweden, B.T. Batsford (London, England), 1976.

(With Gunilla Nordquist) The Other European Community: Integration and Cooperation in Nordic Europe, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1982.

(With Graham Jenkins) Richard Burton, My Brother, Harper & Row (New York, NY), 1988.

… And the Policeman Smiled: 10,000 Children Escape from Nazi Europe, Bloomsbury (London, England), 1991.

(With Susan Elliott) Denholm Elliott: Quest for Love, Headline Publishing (London, England), 1994.

(With Tony Rennell) When Daddy Came Home: How Family Life Changed Forever in 1945, Pimlico (London, England), 1996.

One Small Suitcase (based on Turner's book … And the Policeman Smiled: 10,000 Children Escape from Nazi Europe), Puffin Books (London, England), 2003.

Countdown to Victory: The Final European Campaigns of World War II, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2004.

Suez, 1956: The Inside Story of the First Oil War, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 2006.

EDITOR; NONFICTION

Raising the School Leaving Age: A Seminar, Encyclopaedia Britannica (London, England), 1971.

Discipline in Schools, Ward Lock (London, England), 1973.

Equality for Some: The Story of Girls' Education, Ward Lock Educational (London, England), 1974.

Truancy, Ward Lock (London, England), 1974.

The Writer's Handbook, Macmillan (London, England), 1988, revised edition, 2008.

The Statesman's Yearbook: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 1997, 143rd edition, 2008.

China Profiled: Essential Facts on Society, Business, and Politics in China, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

France Profiled: Essential Facts on Society, Business, and Politics in France, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Germany Profiled: Essential Facts on Society, Business, and Politics in Germany, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Italy Profiled: Essential Facts on Society, Business, and Politics in Italy, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

The Statesman's Yearbook Centenary Collection, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 1999.

Central Europe Profiled: Essential Facts on Society, Business, and Politics in Central Europe, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Latin America Profiled: Essential Facts on Society, Business, and Politics in Latin America, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Scandinavia Profiled: Essential Facts on Society, Business, and Politics in Scandinavia, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Southern Africa Profiled: Essential Facts on Society, Business, and Politics in Southern Africa, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

The World Today, 2000: Essential Facts in an Ever Changing World, St. Martin's Griffin (New York, NY), 2000.

UK Today: Essential Facts in an Ever Changing World, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

The World Today, 2001: Essential Facts in an Ever Changing World, St. Martin's Griffin (New York, NY), 2000.

The Writer's Handbook Guide to Crime Writing, Pan Macmillan Publishers (London, England), 2003.

The Writer's Handbook Guide to Writing for Stage and Screen, Pan Macmillan Publishers (London, England), 2003.

The Writer's Handbook Guide to Travel Writing, Pan Macmillan Publishers (London, England), 2004.

The Writer's Handbook Guide to Writing for Children, Pan Macmillan Publishers (London, England), 2004.

The Screenwriter's Handbook: The Essential Companion for All Screenwriters, Pan Macmillan Publishers (London, England), 2007, St. Martin's Griffin (New York, NY), 2008.

Also editor of Education and the Urban Crisis, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1972.

OTHER

(With Harry Towb) The Righteous Gentile (radio play), British Broadcasting Corporation (London, England), 1992.

(Editor) SYBWorld: The Essential Global Reference (online database), Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2003, published as The Statesman's Yearbook Online, 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including History Today and London Times. Editor of Country, 1995-2000.

ADAPTATIONS:

A Place in the Country inspired a television series of the same title, Thames Television, 1972-73.

SIDELIGHTS:

Barry Turner has pursued a multifaceted career, working variously as teacher, journalist, broadcast writer, publishing executive, editor, and author. For more than twenty years he has edited The Writer's Handbook, which while including information on U.S. markets focuses especially on British ones, and for more than ten years has edited The Statesman's Yearbook: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World, described as "indispensable" in the Contemporary Review and named one of the top fifty reference sources of the millennium by Library Journal. Turner also wrote a best-selling book about England's country houses, A Place in the Country, which inspired a British television series of the same title. Among Turner's recent works are historical books such as Suez, 1956: The Inside Story of the First Oil War, an "excellent straightforward narrative of events" involving the United Kingdom's controversial actions against Egypt, according to Geoffrey Wheatcroft in the Spectator. Wheatcroft found that Turner tells the story "grippingly."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2003, review of SYBWorld: The Essential Global Reference, p. 948.

Contemporary Review, November, 2003, review of The Statesman's Yearbook: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World, 2004 edition, p. 318.

Library Journal, February 1, 2000, Anna Youssefi, review of The World Today, 2000: Essential Facts in an Ever Changing World, p. 72; December, 2002, Pam Kingsbury, review of The Writer's Handbook, p. 112; December 15, 2006, Mirela Roncevic, review of The Statesman's Yearbook.

Reference & User Services Quarterly, spring, 2003, Carla Wilson Buss, review of SYBWorld, p. 258.

Spectator, November 4, 2006, Geoffrey Wheatcroft, "A Lesson Still Worth Learning."

ONLINE

Birmingham City University School of English Web site,http://www.lhds.bcu.ac.uk/english/ (September 22, 2008), faculty profile.

HistoryNet,http://www.historynet.com/ (June 12, 2006), Robert Citino, review of Countdown to Victory: The Final European Campaigns of World War II.