Graeme Fife

Graeme Fife is a prolific English writer, playwright and broadcaster. His first career was as a schoolmaster and university lecturer.

Education

Fife was educated at schools in London and Durham University, where he gained a General Arts degree with first class honours in Greek language and literature.

Teaching career

• Head of Classics for one year at a school in Lancashire
• Head of Classics at Gresham's School, Holt, from 1970 to 1978
• Lecturer in Greek and Roman literature, University of Reading

Publications

Books

• Polly Polestar (Ginn & Co., 1989)
• The Wrong Side of the Bed (Ginn & Co., 1988) ISBN 0-602-28462-7
• Story in anthology: The Man in Black (1990)
• Arthur the King: a study of mediaeval romance in its social, literary and historical context (BBC Books, 1990, ISBN 0-563-21510-0)
• Dick Pickles: The Kingfisher of Cottingham (Stolvard, 1991)
• Where Did I Put My Trousers? (Mallory Ives., 1992)
• George Francis: Trainer of Champions (with George Francis, Mainstream, 1998, ISBN 1-84018-059-5)
• Tour de France: the history, the legend, the riders (Mainstream, 1999, ISBN 1-84018-918-5)
• Tour de France: Tour de Souffrance (translated from the French of Albert Londres, Cycle Sport, 1999)
• Inside the Peloton: Riding, Winning and Losing the Tour de France (2001, ISBN 1-84018-672-0)
• The Terror: The Shadow of the Guillotine, France 1792-1794 (2004, ISBN 0-7499-5005-6)
• Bob Chicken: A Passion for the Bike (2005, ISBN 0-9551225-0-3)
• Great Road Climbs of the Pyrenees (Rapha, 2006)
• The Beautiful Machine (2007, ISBN 1-84596-241-9)
• Angel of the Assassination (novel) (Merit, 2009)
• Great Road Climbs of the Southern Alps (Rapha, 2010)
• Brian Robinson, Pioneer (Mousehold Press 2010)
• Great Road Climbs of the Northern Alps (Rapha 2011)

Plays

• Praise Be to God (performed by Edward de Souza Orange Tree, London, 1987)
• Reg (performed by Edward de Souza, Orange Tree, 1987)
• The Great French Revolution Show (Deia Majorca, 1984)
• Lysistrata by Aristophanes (translated and adapted, Deia Majorca, 1984)
• The Silver Nutmeg (musical, with Peter Thorne)
• Grimaldi (musical drama, with Peter Thorne)
• Once Upon a Time... (dramatic song sequence for narrator and singers, with Peter Thorne)
• The Andria (translation from The Andria of Terence, with Sebastian Eden) (Gresham's School)
• The Weaker Sex (Southampton)
• Gesualdo (Edinburgh, London, Melbourne)
• Mr Shakespeare...Mr Liebowitz (Deià, Majorca)
• Jam (London, Edinburgh, Swindon)
• The Door (opera) France

Screenplays

• Chavasse Park (promotional film for architectural development in Liverpool)
• Ghosts of Deptford (six short films about celebrated denizens of Deptford)

Radio Scripts

• Elias Howe
• Some thirty Stories about composers, Monologues and Duologues
• Snipe 3909
• Earth to Earth
• Vivaldi
• Revolutionary Portraits
• The Whisper of the Axe
• Arthur the King
• La Mogador
• The March of the Ten Thousand
• The Misfortune at Seaham
• A Breath of Fresh Air
• Pearls Go with Pearls (script consultant)
• Godslots
• Surviving Wagner
• St Cecilia of Sicilia
• Wilf
• Cat’s Whiskers, six short playlets
• The Figaro Letters
• The Athenian Trireme
• Doggett’s Coat and Badge
• The Night Stairs
• Timbuktu: Drowning in Sand
• Vegetarian Cyclists
• over a hundred scripts for Pause for Thought
• Bikesongs
• Bicycle Music
• Saint-Saëns, Samson et Dalila and the Lost Glory
• The Fighting Temeraire, The Battle and the Breeze
• The Sweetness of the Garden
• Spem in Alium
• Beau Geste (adapted for R4 Classic Serial)
• Robert Graves and Myth R3 Essays

Other

• 'The View from the Oarbench' in Frank Welsh, Building the Trireme (Constable, 1988)

References