Caliban Shrieks

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GT was born in 1913 in Cymmer, the youngest of 12 kids in a family whose father was an unemployed miner. He attended University where he was”profoundly unhappy”. By 1942 he was working as a teacher in Barry and became a full-time writer and broadcaster in 1962. Much of his writing expresses injustice with a sardonic almost surreal humour. Hilton died modestly and unacclaimed, and for 80 years his novels have been virtually impossible to get hold of after they went out of print, the ownership of the publishing rights unknown. Previous investigators had mistakenly believed Hilton died in Wiltshire because of an incorrect report in a newspaper at the time. George Orwell, who would champion Hilton and become his penpal — but who Hilton seemed unsure about. Photo: Getty Images.

JC was born in Newcastle in 1903 the son of a railway man. He had various jobs throughout his life including clerk, caretaker, labourer and various stints unemployed. During the 30s he worked on the magazine Adelphi and had many short articles published. It was during this time that he became friendly with George Orwell.As BPC couldn’t find George Orwell’s review of Caliban Shrieks online, we did a paper-search and transcribed it. Greater Manchester leaders have written to the government calling for an "urgent rethink" of HS2’s Manchester plans. They say the proposal to build a cheaper overground station at Manchester Piccadilly is the wrong solution and could "damage the North for generations”. Andy Burnham said: “This is a huge moment and the decisions that are made now will affect the prospects for people here in the North for hundreds of years to come. A second-class choice for HS2 at Manchester Piccadilly station will be a hammer blow to any prospects of really Levelling Up our country."

HH was a miner in South Shields and a militant in the Durham Miners Association from whom he won a scholarship to the Central Labour College from 1924-26.A former member of the Independent Labour Party he attended the 2nd Revolutionary Writers Congress in Charkov (USSR). His first 2 books were criticised by the CPGB and the authorities in the USSR and Last Cage Down was written as a direct expression of the CPGBs”Class against Class” policy. Ironically for Heslop, this too met with a jaded reaction, as CPGB policy had changed by the time of its publication to Popular Front tactics. Heslop’s earlier books were rehabilitated.After serving in the First World War , he became a plasterer and an active member of the Plasterers’ Union. He was also involved in the National Unemployed Workers’ Union during the depression of the 1930s – which led to several run-ins with the police and a few brief stints in jail.