R F Delderfield

On the 20th August 1973 Morning Story broadcast the short story "Unknown" by R F Delderfield (1912 - 1972).

Delderfield start his writing career on the Exmouth Chronicle, which was owned and edited by his father. Delderfield himself later became editor of the paper.

His novels include "To Serve Them All My Days", the "Avenue series" ("The Dreaming Suburb" and "The Avenue goes to War") and the "Swann saga" ("God is an Englishman", "Theirs was the Kingdom" and "Give Us This Day"). Much of his work has been adapted for screen, including "A Horseman Riding By", "To Serve Them All My Days" and "Diana".  In 1990 his 1969 novel Come Home, Charlie, and Face Them was made into a TV mini-series http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139770/ It's a gripping read and highly recommended.

"Unknown" was narrated by Noel Johnson (1916 - 1999) who was famous as the voice of Dick Barton in the BBC radio serial.

See R F Delderfield's Desert Island Disc choices here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/24d78b07  and read more about his books here: http://www.hodder.co.uk/authors/author.aspx?AuthorID=1761