Frank Tilsley Biography

British novelist, born in Lancashire; he grew up in Manchester, where he was educated at Chapel Street Council School, Levenshulme. After working in various capacities, including as an accountant's clerk and a schoolteacher, he became a full-time author following the success of his first novel, Plebeian's Progress (1933). The work was highly valued for the authenticity of its critical depiction of working-class conditions in a period of economic depression. He published some twenty subsequent novels, which based their robustly straightforward narratives on detailed reportage of contemporary social conditions. Titles include She Was There Too (1938), Pleasure Beach (1944), Champion Road (1948), Heaven and Herbert Common (1953), and Brother Nap (1954). Tilsley was also a frequent radio broadcaster and from 1950 onward won considerable acclaim as a television dramatist.