John Fairley

For the Scottish lawyer, see John Douglas Fairley, Lord Fairley.

John Alexander Fairley FRTS (born 15 April 1938)^[1] is a British former television producer from Liverpool, who now lives in Yorkshire.^[2] With William Allison he wrote the 1978 book The Monocled Mutineer, made into a well-known 1986 BBC One controversial drama series, adapted by Alan Bleasdale.

Early life

He was born in Liverpool.^[2] He attended MerchantTaylor's school in Crosby, Merseyside and then went to The Queen's College, Oxford.

Career

Newspapers

He started at the Bristol Evening Post in 1963, then went to the London Evening Standard in 1964.

Radio

From 1965 to 1968, he was a radio producer with BBC Radio.

Yorkshire Television

He worked for Yorkshire Television (now ITV Yorkshire). He was a television producer from 1968 to 1978. He became Managing Director of Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television in 1993 until April 1995. He was replaced on 15 May 1995 by Bruce Gyngell, the former managing director from 1984 to 1992 of TV-am. During his employment at Yorkshire Television, he was the Producer of the cave diving documentary The Underground Eiger.^[3]

Publications

He has written numerous books with Simon Welfare.

• The Monocled Mutineer, 1978, about the Étaples mutiny, written with William Allison

• Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World, published by Fontana 1980, written with Simon Welfare and Arthur C Clarke

• Arthur C Clarke's World of Strange Powers, published by Collins 1984, written with Simon Welfare and Arthur C Clarke

• Arthur C Clarke's Chronicles of the Strange and Mysterious, published by HarperCollins 1987, written with Simon Welfare and Arthur C Clarke

• Arthur C Clarke's Mysteries, published by Michael O'Mara Books Ltd. 1998, written with Simon Welfare

Personal life

He lives in North Yorkshire, in Eddlethorpe in Ryedale. He is married and has three daughters.

See also

• Ward Thomas (television executive), former chairman from 1993 to 1997 of Yorkshire Television