John Lucarotti

John Vincent Lucarotti[1] (20 May 1926 – 20 November 1994)[1] was a British screenwriter and author who became a Canadian citizen and who perhaps is best known for his work on The Avengers, The Troubleshooters and Doctor Who in the 1960s.

John Lucarotti
John Lucarotti at Panopticon 1993
Born
John Vincent Lucarotti

20 May 1926
Aldershot, Hampshire, England, UK
Died20 November 1994 (aged 68)
Paris, France
OccupationScreenwriter

Biography

Born into an Army family in Aldershot in Hampshire in 1926 the son of Helen (née Stark) and Umberto Rimes Lucarotti, John Lucarotti inherited his Italian surname form his grandfather, who was a sculptor. Lucarotti spent 10 years in the Royal Navy during and after the Second World War before moving to Canada in 1950 to pursue his interest in writing.[2] A naturalized Canadian citizen,[3] he began his career at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, writing on over 200 various scripts for them as well as for Canadian television. [1] In 1956-7, he wrote scripts for the Canadian television series Radisson and also wrote the lyrics to the theme song. He then worked for a period selling encyclopedias door-to-door until troubled by his conscience for selling things to people they didn't really want or need.[4] He moved back to England where he had a prolific career. He created the television series Operation Patch (later novelised), The Ravelled Thread, and The Panther's Leap. He wrote six episodes for The Avengers (one episode however was a rewrite of a script by Gerald Verner), thirty-two episodes for The Troubleshooters and contributed fifteen episodes to the BBC's Doctor Who in the 1960s, the three serials: Marco Polo, The Aztecs and The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve.[1]

He subsequently novelised his scripts for Target Books.[1] He contributed a script for what ultimately became the 1975 serial The Ark in Space, but it was rewritten by script editor Robert Holmes and Lucarotti received no on-screen credit.[1] In 1950 he married a Miss Blanej in Gosport in Hampshire but the marriage was later dissolved.[5] He later married Rose-marie Sandy in London in 1969.[6]

John Lucarotti died in Paris on 20 November 1994 at age 68 of spinal cancer.[1]

gollark: SI prefixes.
gollark: <@148963262535434240> 1.5GRF, you mean.
gollark: You can tell, from the lava where the fusion core was, and the lack of electromagnets.
gollark: Let's go with overheating. You need to either turn it off if it's too hot (above 100% efficiency) or add 5000K/t of active cooling.
gollark: Well, not a meltdown... an overheating? plasma excursion event?

References
  1. Ainsworth, John, ed. (2016). "Doctor Who - The Complete History". Vol. 2 no. 32. London, UK: Hachette Partworks. pp. 82–83. ISSN 2057-6048. Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  2. Biography of John Lucarotti - Gallifrey Base database
  3. Alan Hayes, Richard McGinlay and Alys Hayes, Two Against the Underworld - the Collected Unauthorised Guide to The Avengers Series 1, Hidden Tiger (2017) - Google Books pg 404
  4. 1963 newspaper article about Lucarotti - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
  5. John V Lucarotti in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
  6. John V Lucarotti in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 - Ancestry.com (subscription required)
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