Information AboutStephen Potter |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT STEPHEN POTTER | |
| english novelists | |
| potter, stephen | |
| english biographers | |
| english satirists | |
| english literary critics | |
| english non-fiction writers | |
| english humorists | |
| 1900 births | |
| 1969 deaths | |
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Potter attended Westminster School from age 13 to 18, then served from 1918 to 1919 in the Coldstream Guards , known for the ceremonial roles that some of their units play in London and Windsor . FOUNDATIONS OF HIS LITERARY CAREER Following his military service, he studied English Language and Literature at Merton College of Oxford , and in 1923 became secretary to a noted Playwright , Henry Arthur Jones . In 1926 he began teaching English Literature at Birkbeck College of the University Of London . In his teaching years, he began publishing, starting with a , the first book-length work on That Author . In 1934 and 1935 , three books that he wrote or edited, relating to Coleridge , were published. The next year brought both his first writing for radio, on the BBC , and his departure from his university position. In 1937 , he harshly criticized British university teaching of English, in '' The Muse In Chains ''. In 1938, Potter joined the Savile Club , known for its "artistic" and especially literary members, who have included, for example, Hardy , Kipling , and Yeats . As Of 2004 , the club's Web site begins its second entry under "Social Events" by saying of "Savile Snooker ": : a unique version of the more staid game was popularized by the late Stephen Potter. He started 1939 by beginning full-time writing and producing for the BBC, continuing through the end of the War and writing and/or producing at least 250 programs. SATIRE AND MORE In June 1943 , Potter began producing a series of BBC "How" programmes that he wrote in collaboration with Joyce Grenfell . The content (starting with "How to Talk to Children") was satirical, and ran for 29 episodes. With the war's end, Potter took on a number of concurrent literary tasks. These included , in 1946 , was "How to Listen", again in collaboration with Joyce Grenfell. He published '' Gamesmanship '', the first of his books that purport to teach "ploys" for manipulating one's associates, especially making them feel inferior and thereby gaining the status of being "one-up" on them. In 1949 he left the BBC and ended his existing journalistic commitments, and became editor of a weekly, '' The Leader ''. 1950 brought publication of ''Lifemanship'', and 1952 '' One-Upmanship ''. His ''Potter on America'' in 1956 described observations of that country made while travelling between lectures there. The original series of "one-up" books closed with the publication of ''Supermanship'' in 1958 . The 1960 film '' School For Scoundrels '' (not to be confused with the play '' The School For Scandal '') recapitulates many of the "one-up" ideas, and extends them to "Woomanship", meaning the art of manipulative seduction of women by men. ''One-Upmanship'', was a British television series based on Potter's work. It was written and adapted by Barry Took for the BBC for a Christmas special, initially, in 1974 . Starring Richard Briers , Peter Jones (who also played a supporting role in School For Scoundrels ), and Frederick Jaeger, it was subsequently broadened into three series that were broadcast between 1976 and 1978 . Details of the broadcasts can be found on this BBC comedy Web site. CLOSE OF HIS OEUVRE His last works went in new directions:
His diaries, acquired by the University of Texas after his death, were a major source for ''Stephen Potter at the BBC'', (ISBN 0-954-66530-9) by his second son, Julian Potter . It is about the Features department of the BBC, in the 1940s (when Stephen Potter worked there, and is published in the U.K. by Orford Books, Orford, Suffolk. PERSONAL LIFE He married Mary Attenborough (the artist Mary Potter) in 1927, and they settled in Chiswick . Their two sons, Andrew and Julian, were born over the next 5 years. After a series of work-mandated moves during the war, he returned in London; in 1951 they relocated to Aldeburgh in Suffolk . In 1955, after nearly 30 years of marriage, they divorced, and he remarried, to Heather Jenner ; the second Mrs. Potter was the founder of the Marriage Bureau . Their only child, Luke , was born the next year. Potter's death came in 1969. HIS BIBLIOGRAPHY ( As Of 2004 , some of his works are out of print, but most have new editions. Audio versions, read by Stephen Fry , are available in the U.K. ) This year (2005) ''Lifemanship'' was re-published by Moyer Bell.
BOOKS ON POTTER
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