James Hilton was an English novelist who wrote several best-sellers, including
Lost Horizon and
Goodbye, Mr. ChipsGoodbye, Mr. Chips is a novel by James Hilton, published in the United States in June 1934 by Little, Brown and Company and in the United Kingdom in October of that same year by Hodder & Stoughton...
.
Biography
Born in
LeighLeigh is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is southeast of Wigan, and west of Manchester. Leigh is situated on low lying land to the north west of Chat Moss....
, James Hilton was the son of John Hilton, the headmaster of Chapel End School in
WalthamstowWalthamstow is a district of northeast London, England, located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is situated north-east of Charing Cross...
.
Hilton wrote his two most remembered books,
Lost Horizon and
Goodbye, Mr. ChipsGoodbye, Mr. Chips is a novel by James Hilton, published in the United States in June 1934 by Little, Brown and Company and in the United Kingdom in October of that same year by Hodder & Stoughton...
while living in a rather ordinary semi-detached house on Oak Hill Gardens,
Woodford GreenWoodford Green, formerly in the county of Essex, is part of the North East London suburb of Woodford, on the edge of Epping Forest, mostly within the London Borough of Redbridge with a small part on the western side of the green within the London Borough of Waltham Forest .-History:Woodford Green...
. The house still stands, with a blue plaque marking Hilton's residence.
He was married twice, first to Alice Brown and later to Galina Kopineck. Both marriages ended in divorce. He died in
Long Beach, CaliforniaLong Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
from
liver cancerHepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection or cirrhosis .Compared to other cancers, HCC is quite a rare tumor in the United States...
.
Novels
Hilton found literary success at an early age. His first novel,
Catherine Herself, was published in 1920, when he was 20. Several of his books were international bestsellers and inspired successful film adaptations, notably
Lost Horizon (1933), which won a
Hawthornden PrizeThe Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award that was established in 1919 by Alice Warrender. Authors are awarded on the quality of their "imaginative literature" which can be written in either poetry or prose...
;
Goodbye, Mr. ChipsGoodbye, Mr. Chips is a novel by James Hilton, published in the United States in June 1934 by Little, Brown and Company and in the United Kingdom in October of that same year by Hodder & Stoughton...
(1934); and
Random HarvestRandom Harvest is a 1942 film based on the 1941 James Hilton novel of the same name, directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Claudine West, George Froeschel and Arthur Wimperis adapted the novel for the screen, and received an Academy Award nomination for their work. The film departed from the novel in several...
(1941).
Lost Horizon
Lost Horizon, which sold briskly in the 1930s as one of the first
Pocket BooksPocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...
(it in fact bore the serial number "1"), is sometimes referred to as the book that began the paperback revolution. Hilton is said to have been inspired to write
Lost Horizon, and to invent "
Shangri-LaShangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains...
" by reading the
National Geographic MagazineNational Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded...
articles of
Joseph RockJoseph Francis Charles Rock was an Austrian-American explorer, geographer, linguist and botanist.-Life:He was born in Vienna, Austria, but emigrated to the United States in 1905 and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1907, where he eventually became an authority on the flora there...
, an
Austrian-AmericanAustrian Americans are Americans of Austrian descent. According to the 2000 US census, there are 735,128, or 0.3% Americans of full or partial Austrian descent. The states with the largest Austrian American populations are New York , California , Pennsylvania , Florida and New Jersey...
botanist and ethnologist exploring the southwestern Chinese provinces and
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an borderlands. Still living in Britain at the time, Hilton was perhaps influenced by the Tibetan travel articles of early travellers in Tibet whose writings were found in the British Library. Christian Zeeman, the Danish father of the
mathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
Sir Christopher Zeeman, has also been claimed to be the model for the hero of the story. He disappeared while living in Japan (where his son was born in 1925), and was reputed to be living incognito in a Zen Buddhist monastery.
Some say that the isolated valley town of
Weaverville, CaliforniaWeaverville is a census-designated place and the county seat of Trinity County, California. The population was 3,600 at the 2010 census, up from 3,554 at the 2000 census.-History:Founded in 1850, Weaverville is a historic California Gold Rush town...
, in far northern
Trinity CountyTrinity County is a large, rugged and mountainous, heavily forested county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of California, along the Trinity River and within the Salmon/Klamath Mountains. It covers an area of over two million acres , and as of the 2010 census its population...
, was a source, but this is the result of a misinterpretation of a comment by Hilton in a 1941 interview, in which he said that Weaverville reminded him of Shangri-La. Coincidentally,
Junction CityJunction City is a census-designated place in Trinity County, California. Junction City sits at an elevation of . Junction City is located west of Weaverville. The ZIP Code is 96048. The community is inside area code 530...
(about 8 miles from Weaverville) now has a Tibetan Buddhist centre with the occasional Tibetan monks in
saffronSaffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
robes. The name "Shangri-La" has become a byword for a mythical
utopiaUtopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
, a permanently happy land, isolated from the world. After the
Doolittle RaidThe Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the...
on Tokyo, when the fact that the bombers had flown from an aircraft carrier remained highly classified, U.S. President
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
told the press facetiously that they had taken off from Shangri-La. The Navy subsequently gave that name to an aircraft carrier, and Roosevelt named his
MarylandMaryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
presidential retreat "Shangri-La". (Later, President
Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
renamed the retreat
Camp DavidCamp David is the country retreat of the President of the United States and his guests. It is located in low wooded hills about 60 mi north-northwest of Washington, D.C., on the property of Catoctin Mountain Park in unincorporated Frederick County, Maryland, near Thurmont, at an elevation of...
after his grandson, the name by which it is known today.) Zhongdian, a mountain region of
Southwest ChinaSouthwest China is a region of the People's Republic of China defined by governmental bureaus that includes the municipality of Chongqing, the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, and the Tibet Autonomous Region.-Provinces:-Municipalities:...
, has now been renamed Shangri-La (Xianggelila), based on its claim to have inspired Hilton's book
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Hilton's father, the headmaster of Chapel End School in
WalthamstowWalthamstow is a district of northeast London, England, located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is situated north-east of Charing Cross...
, was one of the inspirations for the character of Mr. Chipping in
Goodbye, Mr. ChipsGoodbye, Mr. Chips is a novel by James Hilton, published in the United States in June 1934 by Little, Brown and Company and in the United Kingdom in October of that same year by Hodder & Stoughton...
. Hilton was born in Wilkinson Street, Leigh, and there is a teacher in
Goodbye, Mr. Chips called Mr Wilkinson. The setting for
Goodbye, Mr. Chips is believed to have been based on the Leys School, Cambridge, where James Hilton was a pupil. Chipping is also likely to have been based on
W. H. BalgarnieWilliam Henry Balgarnie was a schoolmaster at Elmfield College and The Leys School, and is believed to have been the inspiration for the character Mr Chips in the book Goodbye, Mr...
, one of the masters of the school who was in charge of the
Leys Fortnightly, where Hilton's first short stories and essays were published.
Oscar winner
Hilton, who lived and worked in Hollywood beginning in the mid-1930s, won an Academy Award in 1942 for his work on the screenplay of
Mrs. MiniverMrs. Miniver is a 1942 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, and Teresa Wright. Based on the fictional English housewife created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns, the film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture,...
, based on the novel by
Jan StrutherJan Struther was the pen name of Joyce Anstruther, later Joyce Maxtone Graham and finally Joyce Placzek , an English writer remembered for her character Mrs...
. He hosted
The Hallmark Playhouse (1948–1953) for
CBS RadioCBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
. One of his later novels,
Morning Journey, was about the movie business.
Hilton's books
- Catherine Herself, 1920
- Storm Passage, 1922
- The Passionate Year, 1924
- Dawn Of Reckoning (Rage In Heaven), 1925
- Meadows Of The Moon, 1926
- Terry, 1927
- The Silver Flame (Three Loves Had Margaret), 1928
- Murder at School
Murder at School is a detective novel by James Hilton first published in 1931. It was released in the United States the following year under the title, Was It Murder?.-Introduction:...
(U.S. title: Was It Murder?), published under the pen-name Glen Trevor, 1931
- And Now Goodbye, 1931
- Contango (Ill Wind), 1932
- Knight Without Armour (Without Armor), 1933
- Lost Horizon
Lost Horizon is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamasery high in the mountains of Tibet.-Overview:...
, 1933
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a novel by James Hilton, published in the United States in June 1934 by Little, Brown and Company and in the United Kingdom in October of that same year by Hodder & Stoughton...
, 1934
- We Are Not Alone
We Are Not Alone is a novel by James Hilton, first published in 1937. It is one of his more somber works, portraying the tragic consequences of anti-foreign hysteria in England during World War I....
, 1937
- To You, Mr Chips, 1938
- Random Harvest
Random Harvest is a 1942 film based on the 1941 James Hilton novel of the same name, directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Claudine West, George Froeschel and Arthur Wimperis adapted the novel for the screen, and received an Academy Award nomination for their work. The film departed from the novel in several...
, 1941
- The Story Of Dr. Wassell, 1944
- So Well Remembered
So Well Remembered is a 1947 British film starring John Mills, Martha Scott, and Trevor Howard. The film was based on the James Hilton novel of the same name and tells the story of a reformer and the woman he marries in a fictional Lancashire mill town. Hilton also narrated...
, 1945
- Nothing So Strange, 1947
- Twilight Of The Wise, 1949
- Morning Journey, 1951
- Time And Time Again, 1953
Hilton's books are sometimes dismissed as sentimental celebrations of English virtues. This is true of
Mr. Chips, but some of his novels had a darker side. Flaws in the English society of his time — particularly narrow-mindedness and class-consciousness — were frequently his targets. His novel
We Are Not AloneWe Are Not Alone is a novel by James Hilton, first published in 1937. It is one of his more somber works, portraying the tragic consequences of anti-foreign hysteria in England during World War I....
, despite its inspirational-sounding title, is a grim story of legally approved lynching brought on by wartime hysteria in Britain.
Adaptations and sequels of his works
Some of Hilton's novels were filmed:
- Lost Horizon (1937, 1973
Lost Horizon is a 1973 musical film directed by Charles Jarrott and starring Peter Finch, John Gielgud, Liv Ullmann, Michael York, Sally Kellerman, Bobby Van, George Kennedy, Olivia Hussey, James Shigeta and Charles Boyer....
)
- Knight Without Armour
Knight Without Armour is a 1937 British historical drama film made by London Films and distributed by United Artists. It was directed by Jacques Feyder and produced by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Lajos Biró adapted by Frances Marion from the novel by James Hilton. The music score was by...
(1937)
- We Are Not Alone
We Are Not Alone is a drama film about a doctor who hires a woman as a nanny for his son. When his wife becomes jealous, tragedy consumes all involved. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Hilton, who adapted his novel with Milton Krims.-Cast:*Paul Muni as Dr...
(1939) with a screenplay by Hilton
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939
Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a 1939 British film based on the novel of the same name by James Hilton. It was directed by Sam Wood, and starred Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, John Mills, and Paul Henreid. The screenplay was adapted from the novel by R. C. Sherriff, Claudine West and Eric...
, 1969Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a 1969 American musical film directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay by Terence Rattigan is based on James Hilton's 1934 novella of the same name, which originally was adapted for the screen in 1939.-Plot:...
, 1984, 2002)
- Random Harvest (1942), reprised on radio in 1943
- So Well Remembered (1947) starring John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
and narrated by Hilton
Hilton co-wrote the book and lyrics for
Shangri-LaShangri-La is a musical with a book and lyrics by James Hilton, Jerome Lawrence, and Robert E. Lee and music by Harry Warren.Based on Hilton's classic 1933 novel Lost Horizon, it focuses on Hugh Conway, a veteran member of the British diplomatic service, who stumbles across a utopian lamasery high...
, a disastrous 1956 Broadway musical adaptation of
Lost Horizon.
There are two sequels to
Lost Horizon:
Messenger by Frank DeMarco and
Shangri-La by Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri. Neither achieved any lasting fame.
Memorials
A furor was caused in the late 1990s, when Wigan Council (the Metropolitan Borough responsible for Leigh) announced that a
blue plaqueA blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
in honour of Hilton would be placed not on his house in Wilkinson Street, but on the town hall. This caused great debate amongst the populace of Leigh, which considered it more appropriate to have it on the house itself, which is only a few hundred yards from the town hall.
James Hilton should not be confused with the Leigh businessman of the same name who became chairman of
Leigh Rugby League Football ClubLeigh Centurions is an English professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester who play in the Co-operative Championship.The club was founded in 1878 as Leigh Rugby Football Club and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in...
after the War and after whom the club's former ground, Hilton Park, was named.
External links