Dennis Wheatley

Encyclopedia : D : DE : DEN : Dennis Wheatley

Dennis Yates Wheatley (8 January 1897 – 10 November 1977) was a British writer born in London. His prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world's best-selling authors in the 1950s and 1960s.

Book Cover: Gateway To Hell

Dennis Yates Wheatley was born South London 8th January 1897 the eldest of three children of an upper middle class family, owners of a wine business Wheatley and Son of Mayfair. He was expelled from Dulwich College (which had been attended by another writer, P.G. Wodehouse from 1894-1900), and became an officer cadet at a training ship, HMS Worcester, for the merchant navy.

He took part in the First World War but was chlorine gassed and invalided out as a second lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery after seeing service in Flanders, on the Ypres Salient, and in France at Cambrai and St. Quentin. He took over the family wine making business in 1919; however, following a decline in business after the depression in 1931, he set about writing and remarried his second wife.

During the second World War, Wheatley's literary talents led him onto planning staffs for the War Office. The most famous of his submissions to the Joint Planning Staff of the war cabinet was on "Total War". He was given a commission directly into the JPS as Wing Commander, RAFVR; and took part in advanced planning for the Normandy invasions.

His first book, Three Inquisitive People, was not immediately published; but a second book, The Forbidden Territory, was in 1933, and was a great success.

He wrote adventure stories, with many books in a series of linked works. His plots covered the French Revolution (Roger Brook Series), Satanism (Duc de Richleau), World War II (Gregory Sallust) and espionage (Julian Day).

His work is fairly typical of his class and era; it contains a level of racism, anti-semitism and anti-communism that are, to say the least, jarring to the modern ear. His leading characters are all dyed-in-the-wool supporters of empire and the class system and many of his villains are villainous because they attack these ideas. If one can leave this to one side however his work is an enjoyable example of the pulp thriller and his "Roger Brook" series in particular serve as a "History without tears" (Wheatley in the introduction to "The Man Who Killed the King") although his analysis is coloured by his politics.

Around the 1960s his publishers were selling a million copies of his books per year. A small number of his books were made into films by Hammer, of which the best known is The Devil Rides Out (book 1934, film 1968). His writing is very descriptive and in many works he manages to introduce his characters into real events while meeting real people. For example, in the Roger Brook series the main character involves himself with Napoleon, and Josephine whilst being a spy for the Prime Minister William Pitt. Similarly, in the Gregory Sallust series, Sallust shares an evening meal with Hermann Göring.

He also wrote non-fiction works, including accounts of the Russian Revolution and King Charles II, and his autobiography. He was considered an authority on the supernatural, satanism, the practice of exorcism, and black magic; as well as other black arts. However, two weeks before his death in November of 1977, Wheatley received conditional absolution from his old friend Cyril ‘Bobby’ Eastaugh, the Bishop of Peterborough.

Fifty-two of Wheatley's novels were published in a set by Heron Books.

His estate library was sold in a catalogue sale by Basil Blackwell's in the 1970s, and indicates a thoroughly well-read individual with wide-ranging interests particularly in historical fiction and Europe. His influence, though, has declined from difficulties in reprinting his works from copyright problems.

External links

[Biography]

List of works

The Forbidden Territory 1933
'Old Rowley' 1933
Such Power is Dangerous 1933
Black August 1934
The Devil Rides Out 1934
The Fabulous Valley 1934
The Eunuch of Stamboul 1935
Contraband 1936
Murder Off Miami 1936
They Found Atlantis 1936
Red Eagle 1937
The Secret War 1937
Who Killed Robert Prentice? 1937
The Golden Spaniard 1938
The Malinsay Massacre 1938
Uncharted Seas 1938
Herewith the Clues 1939
Sixty Days to Live 1939
The Quest of Julian Day 1939
Faked Passports 1940
The Black Baroness 1940
The Scarlet Impostor 1940
Three Inquisitive People 1940
Strange Conflict 1941
The Sword of Fate 1941
Total War 1941
Mediterranean Nights 1942
V for Vengeance 1942
Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts 1943
The Man Who Missed the War 1945
Codeword Golden Fleece 1946
Come into My Parlour 1946
The Launching of Roger Brook 1947
The Haunting of Toby Jugg 1948
The Shadow of Tyburn Tree 1948
The Rising Storm 1949
The Seven Ages of Justerinis 1949
The Second Seal 1950
The Man Who Killed the King 1951
The Star of Ill Omen 1952
Curtain of Fear 1953
To the Devil - a Daughter 1953
The Island Where Time Stands Still 1954
The Dark Secret of Josephine 1955
The Ka of Gifford Hillary 1956
The Prisoner in the Mask 1957
Traitors' Gate 1958
Stranger than Fiction 1959
The Rape of Venice 1959
The Satanist 1960
Saturdays with Bricks 1961
Vendetta in Spain 1961
Mayhem in Greece 1962
Gunmen,Gallants and Ghosts 1963
Mediterranean Nights 1963
The Sultan's Daughter 1963
Bill for the Use of a Body 1964
They Used Dark Forces 1964
Dangerous Inheritance 1965
The Eight Ages of Justerinis 1965
The Wanton Princess 1966
Unholy Crusade 1967
The White Witch of the South Seas 1968
Evil in a Mask 1969
Gateway to Hell 1970
The Devil and all His Works 1971
The Ravishing of Lady Mary Ware 1971
The Strange Story of Linda Lee 1972
The Irish Witch 1973
Desperate Measures 1974
The Young Man Said 1977
Officer and Temporary Gentleman 1978
Drink and Ink 1979
The Deception Planners 1980

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.