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Evan Jones (writer)

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Evan Jones
BornEvan Gordon Newton Jones
(1927-12-29)29 December 1927
Portland, Colony of Jamaica, British Empire
Died18 April 2023(2023-04-18) (aged 95)
England
OccupationPlaywright, screenwriter, poet
LanguageEnglish
EducationMunro College, Jamaica; Haverford College, Pennsylvania, US
Alma materWadham College, Oxford
GenreTelevision drama, screenplays, poetry
Notable works
Notable awardsMartin Luther King Award
SpouseJoanna Jones[1]
ChildrenMelissa,[1] Sadie[2]

Evan Gordon Newton Jones (29 December 1927 – 18 April 2023) was a Jamaican poet, playwright and screenwriter based in the United Kingdom. He was educated in Jamaica, the United States and England. Jones taught at schools in the United States before moving to England in 1956 and beginning a career as a writer.

Jones wrote the scripts for the feature films King and Country (1964), Modesty Blaise (1966), Funeral in Berlin (1966), Wake in Fright (1971), and several television plays.

Biography

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Evan Jones was born on 29 December 1927 in Portland, Jamaica, the son of a Fred M. Jones, a farmer, and Gladys, a Quaker missionary and teacher. One of seven children, Jones grew up in rural Jamaica and was educated locally, then at the prestigious boarding school Munro College, and subsequently attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania. After Haverford, he went to the Gaza Strip in Palestine in 1949, with the American Friends Service Committee, which organized the refugee camps there under the auspices of the United Nations; his experiences became the basis of his first television screenplay, The Widows of Jaffa.[3] He graduated from Wadham College, Oxford, in 1952 with a BA (Bachelor of Arts Honours) degree in English literature.[4] Jones taught at the George School in Pennsylvania and Wesleyan University, Connecticut. In 1956, he moved to England and earned his living as a writer of documentary drama, television plays and feature films.

His works include the television documentary series The Fight Against Slavery and several films directed by Joseph Losey, including Eva (a collaboration with Hugo Butler, 1962), King and Country (1964) and Modesty Blaise (1966). Other screenplays by Jones include Funeral in Berlin (1966), Escape to Victory (1981) and A Show of Force (1990). He is also notable as the author of Madhouse on Castle Street (1963), a now lost BBC television play, which featured the acting début of Bob Dylan.[5][6]

Jones's poem "The Song of the Banana Man" (1956) is taught in schools throughout the Caribbean and published in anthologies worldwide,[7] as well as being frequently cited by other writers, including Lorna Goodison (notably in the first essay of her collection Redemption Ground,[8] and Raymond Antrobus, who as a child had the poem on his bedroom wall, put there by his Jamaican father.[9][10] Another well-known poem by Jones, "Lament of the Banana Man", dates from 1962, the year of Jamaica's independence.[7] Jones also wrote biographies, and textbooks and novels for children.[11]

His wife, Joanna Vogel, was an actress and his daughters Melissa and Sadie are both novelists.[1][2][12] Evan Jones died on 18 April 2023, at the age of 95.[13][14]

The Bodleian Library holds a collection of documents from Jones' life, including drafts of scripts.[15][16]

Works

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Television

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Films

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Books

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  • Protector of the Indians, Nelson, 1958
  • Tales of the Caribbean: Anansi Stories, Ginn, 1984
  • Tales of the Caribbean: Witches and Duppies, Ginn, 1984
  • Tales of the Caribbean: The Beginning of Things, Ginn, 1984
  • Skylarking, Longman, 1993
  • Stonehaven, Institute of Jamaica Publications, 1993
  • Alonso and the Drug Barron, Macmillian Caribbean, 2006
  • A Poem For Every Day of the Year (Allie Esiri, Pan Macmillan, 2017)

Poetry

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  • "The Song of the Banana Man" (1956)
  • "Lament of the Banana Man" (1962)

References

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  1. ^ a b c Roberts, Alison (16 June 2008). "Keeping up with Mrs Jones". The Evening Standard, archived at LexisNexis. London: Associated Newspapers. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
  2. ^ a b Kyte, Holly (13 May 2008). "Sadie Jones: 'It just wouldn't leave me alone'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
  3. ^ Hellfire Hall (14 September 2018). "REVIEW: The Widows of Jaffa". The Official Peter Wyngarde Appreciation Society. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  4. ^ Southwood-Smith, Donna. "Language as a vehicle for National Themes" (PDF). Washington Research Library Consortium. p. 10. Retrieved 12 December 2009.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ "Dylan in the Madhouse". BBC Four. 18 October 2007. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  6. ^ Llewellyn Smith, Caspar (18 September 2005). "Flash-back". The Observer.
  7. ^ a b Creighton, Al (16 August 2020). "In tribute to Jamaica". Stabroek News.
  8. ^ Goodison, Lorna (2018). "'The song of the Banana Man' and 'The Fiddler Dooney'". Redemption Ground: Essays and Adventures. Myriad Editions. pp. 1–7.
  9. ^ Sethi, Anita (28 December 2019). "Interview | Raymond Antrobus: 'In some ways, poetry is my first language'". The Guardian.
  10. ^ "Raymond Antrobus – The Stories We Tell". arvon.org. Arvon. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Evan Jones". Heinemann Books. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
  12. ^ "Melissa Jones". Tantor Media.
  13. ^ "Evan Jones death notice". The Times. 22 April 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  14. ^ "Evan Jones, writer of Funeral in Berlin and Escape to Victory who also worked with Bob Dylan – obituary". The Telegraph. 30 June 2023.
  15. ^ "New Catalogue: Evan Jones Archive". Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Collection: Evan Jones Archive | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts". archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
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