Petre Mais
Encyclopedia
Stuart Petre Brodie Mais (1885–1975) was a prolific British author, journalist and broadcaster. The son of a Bristol
ian rector
, he was born in Birmingham
but raised in Tansley
, Derbyshire
, where his family moved shortly afterwards. He was educated at Denstone College
, Staffordshire
. After graduating in English Literature at Christ Church, Oxford
, and then teaching at a number of schools including Rossall
and Sherborne
, Mais later worked for National Press at Fleet Street. He was a prolific author writing over 200 books, his reputation was such that Churchill once joked that the speed of his output made him feel tired.
Mais broadcast for numerous wireless programmes for the BBC
between the 1920s and 1940s. He was married twice: to Doris Snow and then to Jill Doughty. S.P.B (who preferred to be called Petre), was an ardent campaigner for the English countryside and traditions, he was also broad minded and innovative. He began to broadcast a "Letter from America" in 1933, a ground breaking venture at the time, and an idea that has been used by other media figures since. S.P.B. died at in April 1975 at Lindfield, Sussex.
He worked as a journalist for The Oxford Times
newspaper, and also for the BBC as a radio broadcaster, most famously on the Kitchen Front radio show that aired after the morning news during World War Two. For an account of these broadcasts see "Calling Again - My Kitchen Front Talks with some results on the listener" by S.P.B. Mais, 1941. He presented Letter from America from 1933, 13 years before it was made famous by Alistair Cooke
; he also presented a series on This Unknown Island.
A grandson is the Evening Standard
writer Sebastian Shakespeare who writes, "My grandfather, SPB Mais, wrote more than 200 books and was a household name in his day. Prolific production alas was no guarantee of riches. He wrote to keep the bailiffs at bay. I'll never forget when my mother told me how she once had to hand over the contents of her piggy bank to his creditors."
plays, published in 1914. He continued to publish works on English literature, and even tried his hand at writing novel
s.
Works on literature Include:
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
ian rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
, he was born in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
but raised in Tansley
Tansley
Tansley is a village on the southern edge of the Derbyshire Peak District, two miles east of Matlock.-History:Tansley is recorded in the Domesday Book as Tanslege, and its name comes from the combination of the Old English words lega, meaning "wood or glade" and tan meaning "a branch of a...
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, where his family moved shortly afterwards. He was educated at Denstone College
Denstone College
Denstone College is an independent, coeducational boarding school in Denstone,Staffordshire, England and a member school of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. It is also a Woodard school and as such has a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition. It has continued to show impressive academic...
, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
. After graduating in English Literature at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, and then teaching at a number of schools including Rossall
Rossall School
Rossall School is a British, co-educational, independent school, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St. Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College which had been founded the previous year...
and Sherborne
Sherborne School
Sherborne School is a British independent school for boys, located in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England. It is one of the original member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....
, Mais later worked for National Press at Fleet Street. He was a prolific author writing over 200 books, his reputation was such that Churchill once joked that the speed of his output made him feel tired.
Mais broadcast for numerous wireless programmes for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
between the 1920s and 1940s. He was married twice: to Doris Snow and then to Jill Doughty. S.P.B (who preferred to be called Petre), was an ardent campaigner for the English countryside and traditions, he was also broad minded and innovative. He began to broadcast a "Letter from America" in 1933, a ground breaking venture at the time, and an idea that has been used by other media figures since. S.P.B. died at in April 1975 at Lindfield, Sussex.
He worked as a journalist for The Oxford Times
The Oxford Times
The Oxford Times is a weekly newspaper, published each Thursday in Oxford, England. It is published from a large production facility at Osney Mead, west Oxford, and is owned by Newsquest, the UK subsidiary of US-based Gannett Company....
newspaper, and also for the BBC as a radio broadcaster, most famously on the Kitchen Front radio show that aired after the morning news during World War Two. For an account of these broadcasts see "Calling Again - My Kitchen Front Talks with some results on the listener" by S.P.B. Mais, 1941. He presented Letter from America from 1933, 13 years before it was made famous by Alistair Cooke
Alistair Cooke
Alfred Alistair Cooke KBE was a British/American journalist, television personality and broadcaster. Outside his journalistic output, which included Letter from America and Alistair Cooke's America, he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS Masterpiece Theater from 1971 to 1992...
; he also presented a series on This Unknown Island.
A grandson is the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
writer Sebastian Shakespeare who writes, "My grandfather, SPB Mais, wrote more than 200 books and was a household name in his day. Prolific production alas was no guarantee of riches. He wrote to keep the bailiffs at bay. I'll never forget when my mother told me how she once had to hand over the contents of her piggy bank to his creditors."
Literary works
He was a schoolmaster and his first books were a series of annoted William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
plays, published in 1914. He continued to publish works on English literature, and even tried his hand at writing novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s.
Works on literature Include:
- Delight in Books (1931)
- A Chronicle of English Literature (1936)
Travel books
These include:- See England First (1927)
- Do you know North Cornwall? My finest holiday (1927 for the Southern Railway)
- The Cornish Riviera (1928 for the Great Western RailwayGreat Western RailwayThe Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
) - Glorious Devon (1928 for the Great Western Railway)
- North Wales (1928 for the London Midland and Scottish Railway)
- Sussex 1929
- It isn't far from London (1930)
- Southern rambles for Londoners (1931 for the Southern RailwaySouthern Railway (Great Britain)The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
) - The Highlands of Britain (1932)
- This unknown island (1932)
- Week-ends in England (1933)
- Isles of the island (1934)
- England's pleasance (1935)
- Lovely Britain edited (1935)
- Round about England (1935)
- Southern schools (1935 for the Southern Railway)
- Pictorial Britain and Ireland (ca1936 for the Anglo-American Oil Co - EssoEssoEsso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
) - England's Character (1936)
- A.C.E: the Atlantic Coast ExpressAtlantic Coast ExpressThe Atlantic Coast Express was an express passenger train in England between Waterloo station, London and seaside resorts in the south-west...
(1937 for the Southern Railway) - Britain calling (1938)
- Let's get out here (1938 for the Southern Railway)
- Walking in Somerset (1938)
- Highways and Byways in the Welsh Marches (1939)
- Hills of the South (1939)
- I Return to Scotland (1947)
- I Return to Switzerland (1948)
- I Return to Ireland (1948)
- I Return to Wales (1949)
- Little England Beyond Wales (1949)
- The Land of The Cinque Ports (illus. by Rowland HilderRowland HilderRowland Frederick Hilder OBE was an English marine and landscape artist and book illustrator. He has been called 'the Turner of his generation', and according to the Dictionary of National Biography 'The description "Rowland Hilder country" evokes a landscape as distinctive and personal as...
) (1949) - The Riviera - New Look and Old (1950)
- We Wander in the West (1950)
- Arden and Avon (1951)
- Norwegian Odyssey (1951)
- The Channel Islands (1953)
- Our Village Today (1956)
Further reading
- Mais, S P B , "All the Days of My Life", autobiography, (1937)
- Bernard Smith, ‘Mais, Stuart Petre Brodie (1885–1975)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/46344, accessed 18 Jan 2007)
- Robson, Maisie, "An Unrepentant Englishman: The Life of S. P. B. Mais, Ambassador of the Countryside" King's England Press, 2005. (http://www.kingsengland.com/mais.htm)