Alan Franks (writer)

Alan Franks
OccupationsJournalist, playwright, novelist and musician
EmployerThe Times
Known forThe Mother Tongue
The Notes of Doctor Newgate
Wishfulness Waltz
Notable workThe Mother Tongue
The Notes of Doctor Newgate
The Adventures of Wendy Howard-Watt
SpouseRuth Gledhill
Children1

Alan Franks is a British journalist, playwright, novelist and musician, who writes for The Times[1] and The Guardian.[2][3] He is also a theatre reviewer.[4]

His black comedy, The Mother Tongue, whose cast included Prunella Scales, ran at the Greenwich Theatre, London in 1992.[5] In 2005 the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London ran his play Previous Convictions.[6] His play Augusta was performed at the New End Theatre, Hampstead, London in 2008.[7][8] His one-man play Looking at Lucian, performed by Henry Goodman as the artist Lucian Freud, ran at the Ustinov Studio, Bath, Somerset, in 2017.[9][10][11]

Franks' 2013 novel, The Notes of Doctor Newgate, is written in the form of a private diary. Reviewing the book for The Guardian, Nicholas Lezard wrote that, despite the restrictions imposed by this narrative format, "Franks cleverly gets us to see Newgate from other perspectives... he can make you laugh out loud... He also achieves the considerable feat of making you nearly weep at a tender piece of poetry Newgate's father, a former miner, has written".[12]

Franks composed Wishfulness Waltz, which was recorded by Fairport Convention on their 1997 album Who Knows Where the Time Goes?[13] and was also on Jackie Oates' 2008 album The Violet Hour. For more than two decades he performed and recorded with Patty Vetta, who previously sang with The Settlers.

Franks and his wife, the journalist Ruth Gledhill, live in Kew, London.[14][15] They have one son, Arthur.

Albums

  • (with Patty Vetta) Only Natural (2011), self-released
  • (with Patty Vetta) The Arms of the Enemy (2002), self-released
  • (with Patty Vetta) Bird in Flames (2000), self-released
  • (with Patty Vetta) Ladders of Daylight (1997), The Road Goes On Forever – RGF/VFCD 038
  • (with Patty Vetta) Will (1995), The Road Goes On Forever – RGFCD 023

Novels

  • The Thickness of the Door: Three Stories of the North and the South (three novellas: 2018), i2i Publishing, 280 pp. ISBN 978-1999662387
  • The Adventures of Wendy Howard-Watt (2015),[16] Muswell Press. ISBN 978-0992817176
  • The Notes of Doctor Newgate (2013),[12] Muswell Press, 295 pp. ISBN 978-0957213647
  • Sins of the Sons (2010),[15] Muswell Press, 373 pp. ISBN 978-0956557544
  • Boychester's Bugle (1982),[17] William Heinemann, 186 pp. ISBN 978-0954795986

Playscripts

  • A World Elsewhere (2014), Muswell Press, 112 pp. ISBN 978-0957556874
  • The Mother Tongue (1993), Samuel French, 83 pp. ISBN 978-0573018367

Poems

  • Unmade Roads (2010),[18] Muswell Press, 97 pp. ISBN 978-0954795986

References

  1. ↑ "Alan Franks". The Times. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  2. ↑ "Articles by Alan Franks". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  3. ↑ "Alan Franks – Writer, Musician". alanfranks.com. Retrieved 28 March 2026.
  4. ↑ "Reviews by Alan Franks". LondonTheatre1. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  5. ↑ Taylor, Paul (5 August 1992). "THEATRE / Lashings of lingo: Paul Taylor reviews Prunella Scales in Alan Franks' black comedy The Mother Tongue at Greenwich Theatre, London". The Independent. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  6. ↑ Fisher, Philip (2005). "Previous Convictions". British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  7. ↑ Kingston, Jeremy (2008). "Augusta at New End, NW3". The Times. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
  8. ↑ Loxton, Howard (2008). "Augusta". British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  9. ↑ Gulliver, John (10 August 2017). "Franks' portrait of Lucian Freud". Camden New Journal. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  10. ↑ Billington, Michael (11 August 2017). "Looking at Lucian review – mesmerising portrait of the artist as an old man". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  11. ↑ "Theatre review: The Stepmother; Against; Looking at Lucian; King Lear". The Times. 27 August 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  12. 1 2 Lezard, Nicholas (5 November 2013). "The Notes of Doctor Newgate by Alan Franks – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
  13. ↑ "RGF Records: A History". RGF Records. 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  14. ↑ "Riding for The Trust – Ruth Gledhill". Brentford FC Community Sports Trust. 27 April 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  15. 1 2 Gore, Will (3 December 2010). "Author profile: Alan Franks". Richmond Guardian. Retrieved 15 May 2026.
  16. ↑ "The Adventures of Wendy Howard-Watt". Storytel. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  17. ↑ "Boychester's Bugle". Kirkus Reviews. 1983. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
  18. ↑ "My Love is Like". The Times. 10 September 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
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