Bill Stanton, Sheffield Author

(1917-present)

Bill Stanton was born in Brightside, Sheffield, on 18th August 1917. He was the second youngest of a family of eight. His father was a chain maker who laboured all his life on piece work. Despite their stretched means the Stantons put two of their children through university. When it was Bill's turn there was nothing left, and he settled for sponsorship from the education authority to train as a teacher.

He started work as a school teacher just in time to be involved in the evacuation of school children to Edwinstowe in Nottinghamshire, and shortly after the school returned to Sheffield he enlisted into the army as a volunteer. During the War he met and married Dorothy Walton from Millhouses.

For a short time after the War Bill and Dorothy ran a private school in Harrogate. In the early fifties he joined the English Steel Corporation as a progress chaser, and in 1954 he went on the road as a sales representative. He spent the rest of his career marketing the specialist steel produced at Tinsley Park, and retired as the Area Marketing Manager for British Steel in Leeds.

In 1961 the BBC broadcast his first short story `It was never Albert'. There followed a series of successes with further short stories leading to his first play `Young Joey' broadcast in 1966. The play was a documentary about Joseph Chamberlain's first success in politics.

His first Radio Drama was `the Compost Heap' which starred Wilfred Pickles, an old man fighting to maintain his independence against a family who wanted to place him in a home. There followed a series of Radio Plays covering a range of social issues, most of which drew on his own experience of family life in Sheffield. In 1971 he had more radio plays produced by the BBC than any other author.

In his work Bill has always returned to his first career as a teacher, and over the last three decades he has organised numerous courses and workshops to assist budding writers. Now in his eighties he is still encouraging authors with advice and guidance through a correspondence course, the Writer's Tutorial.

In 1993 Bill was offered the opportunity to study for the University Degree circumstances had denied him in 1936. He was accepted on to the Degree Course in English and American Literature at York University. In 1997 he graduated with an Honours 2.1, the oldest graduate York University has ever had.

Recently Bill has completed a novel, Moss. The book is about a child Maurice (Moss for short) growing up in Brightside. Three of the Chapters of the book were broadcast as short stories by the BBC in the 1970s. The book gives a unique insight into life among the poor but proud of Sheffield, and it is written by a man who remembers his roots with affection, and honours them in his work.