Kit Denton
Arnold Christopher "Kit" Denton (5 May 1928 – April 1997) was a British-born Australian writer, soldier and broadcaster. He was also the father of comedian and television presenter Andrew Denton.
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[edit] Early life
Born in London, England in 1928, Denton was raised in the East End until he joined the British Army where he served a radio broadcaster with the British Forces Broadcasting Service in Germany.[1]
[edit] Career
He emigrated to Australia in the late 1940s, and worked as a gold miner in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. From 1951 until 1965, he worked for the Australian Broadcasting Commission as an announcer, and eventually moved on to screenwriting, producing and directing television. In the 1970s, an anonymous television critic for The Australian newspaper was revealed to be Kit Denton, writing under the pseudonym "Janus".[2]
Denton had an abiding interest in military history, and is best known for his novel The Breaker (1973), based on the story of Breaker Morant. Although it is often considered that the film Breaker Morant was based on Denton's book, it was in fact based on a play by Kenneth G. Ross, who successfully sued publisher Angus & Robertson when they publicised Denton's novel as the source for the film. Denton also wrote For Queen and Commonwealth, about British military forces in the late 19th century, and Gallipoli: One Long Grave (1986), a book about the Battle of Gallipoli.
[edit] Death
Denton died in April 1997 at his home in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales.
[edit] Legacy
In August 2006, Denton's son Andrew announced a new A$25,000 writing scholarship in his father's name: the Kit Denton Fellowship, which would be presented to members of the Australian Writers' Guild from 2007 onwards.[3]
[edit] Bibliography
- The Breaker: a novel (1973, ISBN 0-207-14344-7)
- The Breaker (1979, ISBN 0-207-14065-0)
- The Breaker: a novel, with a selection of the verse of Harry (the Breaker) Morant / Kit Denton (1980, revised edition ISBN 0-207-14268-8)
- The Breaker (1983, ISBN 0-85835-691-0)
- Burning Spear (1990, ISBN 0-947245-06-5 (hbk) and ISBN 0-947245-07-3 (pbk))
- Closed File (1983, ISBN 0-7270-1739-X)
- Fiddlers Bridge (1986, ISBN 0-949118-10-9)
- Fiddlers Bridge (1988, ISBN 0-207-15872-X)
- For Queen and Commonwealth (1987, ISBN 0-949118-08-7)
- Gallipoli illustrated / compiled and written by Kit Denton (1981, ISBN 0-7270-1462-5)
- Gallipoli, One Long Grave (1986, ISBN 0-949118-04-4)
- A Walk Around My Cluttered Mind (1968)
[edit] References
- ^ Wilde, William; Joy Hooton, Barry Andrews (1995). The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-553381-X.
- ^ Debus, Bob: Private Members' Statements: Death of Mr Kit Denton, NSW Legislative Assembly Hansard, 22 April 1997
- ^ Kit Denton Scholarship Announced at the 2006 AWGIE Awards, Australian Writers' Guild, 28 August 2006.
[edit] External links
- Obituary from NSW Legislative Assembly Hansard 22 April 1997
- Kit and Betty Denton, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 1953 – photography by Terence and Margaret Spencer
- Address delivered by Kit Denton, to the Canberra Times literary luncheon, 12 October 1983 (sound recording) – introduction by Graham Wilkinson and Peter Fuller
