David Storey Archive

Personal papers and other items including family and personal correspondence, 1950-1959, 1961-1974; work related correspondence, 1956-1979; unfinished draft letters, 1984; school exercise books, c.1963; university papers, including exam cards and transcript, c.1956; articles and short stories, 1950-1959; poetry, 1951-1991; sketches, drawings, and 4 sketch books, n.d.; copy of a Slade prize-winning painting by David Storey, taken from the publication 'New Phineas,' 1954; photographs of David Storey and his family, c.1960s; drafts of an autobiography by David Storey, 1960-1976; partial draft biographies of David Storey, n.d.; copy of ‘Writers and their work no.239: David Storey,’ by John Russell Taylor, 1974; research notes, draft scripts, correspondence, publicity material, photographs, and publications relating to David Storey's theatrical works, 1960-2004, including 'The Contractor,' 1969, 'Home,' 1970, 'The Changing Room,' 1971, and 'The March on Russia,' 1989; draft screenplays with related correspondence and publicity for ‘Ned Kelly,’ ‘Portrait of Margaret Evans,’ ‘Death of My Mother,’ and ‘Wuthering Heights,’ 1963-1964; draft manuscripts, proof and final copies of cover illustrations, publicity material, press cuttings, and correspondence relating to David Storey’s published novels, 1956-2004, including 'This Sporting Life,' 1960, 'Radcliffe,' 1963, 'Pasmore,' 1972, and 'Saville', 1976; book reviews, letters to newspapers and articles on art and sport by David Storey, 1960-1997; drafts and final printed copies of articles by David Storey about Lindsay Anderson, William Coldstream, Robert Colquhoun, Wilson John Haire, D.H. Lawrence, Wyndham Lewis, David Mercer, Henry Moore, Donald Parker, and Philip Sutton, 1962-1994; articles about David Storey and his work, including radio interview transcripts, 1960, 1963, and newspaper and magazine articles, 1960-2004.

David Storey was born 13 July 1933 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, to coalminer Frank Storey and his wife. Educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield, Storey was accepted to study geography at Reading University but instead signed a fourteen year contract to play professional rugby league for Leeds.
He was able to combine his rugby career with a growing interest in art and literature, attending Wakefield Art School between 1951 and 1953 and then Slade School of Fine Art in London, during which time he travelled back to Leeds at weekends for matches. He also produced a series of sketch designs for Christmas cards for Leeds Rugby Club and by the time he left Slade School of Fine Art he had completed around seven unpublished novels.
After completing his studies at Slade, Storey quit rugby and began working as a supply teacher in London. In 1956 he married Barbara Hamilton whom he had met as a schoolboy in Wakefield. Storey continued to write throughout this period and in 1960 his novel, ‘This Sporting Life,’ was published, winning the Macmillan Fiction Prize. Storey subsequently adapted it for the screen and the film, directed by Lindsay Anderson and starring Richard Harris, was released to great critical and commercial success in 1963.
He would go on to write a number of screenplays during the 1960s, including ‘Ned Kelly’ for Karel Reisz, the producer of ‘This Sporting Life,’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ for Lindsay Anderson
His second novel, ‘Flight into Camden,’ was released in 1960 and went on to win the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, given by the Society of Authors, in 1963. Further novels followed, including ‘Radcliffe’ in 1963; ‘Pasmore’ in 1972, winner of the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize; ‘Saville’ in 1976, winner of the Booker Prize for Fiction; and ‘A Serious Man’ in 1998.
The 1960s also saw the beginning of Storey’s close working relationship with the Royal Court Theatre in London when a play he had written in 1958, ‘The Restoration of Arnold Middleton,’ was staged by the Traverse Theatre Company in Edinburgh and subsequently performed at the Royal Court. The play won the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright in 1967, an award shared with a young Tom Stoppard, and Storey went on to write many successful plays, frequently staged under the direction of Lindsay Anderson. In 1969 ‘In Celebration,’ was staged at the Royal Court, followed by ‘The Contractor,’ which won Best Play of the Year at the London Theatre Critics Awards in 1969 as well as the New York Critics Best Play of the Year Award in 1973.
In 1969 Storey was named Writer of the Year by the Variety Club and the following year, 1970, saw the first production of ‘Home,’ one of his most acclaimed plays. Set in a mental hospital, the play was named New York Critics Best Play of the Year in 1970 and won the Evening Standard Award for the Best Play of the Year in 1971. It was also nominated for a Tony Award in the United States, and was adapted as a screenplay. Between 1972 and 1974 Storey also held the position of Associate Artistic Director at the Royal Court.
David Storey's next play, the rugby themed ‘The Changing Room,’ was also highly successful, winning the New York Critics Best Play of the Year Award in 1972, and nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 1973. In 1973 he premiered three new works, ‘Cromwell’ starring Albert Finney, ‘The Farm,’ and ‘Life Class’ starring Alan Bates. He followed these with ‘Mother’s Day’ in 1976, ‘Sisters’ in 1978, ‘Early Days’ in 1980, ‘Phoenix’ in 1984 and ‘Jubilee,’ originally staged as The March on Russia,’ in 1989. In 1994 his play ‘Caring’ starring Maggie Smith was broadcast by the BBC World Service.
Since the mid-1990s Storey has concentrated mostly on his novel writing with ‘as it happened’ published in 2002 and ‘Thin-Ice Skater’, in 2004.
David Storey died on 27 March 2017.

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation, including data protection laws.

The archive was purchased from David Storey by the Borthwick Institute in 2005.

David Storey was born 13 July 1933 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, to coalminer Frank Storey and his wife. Educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Wakefield, Storey was accepted to study geography at Reading University but instead signed a fourteen year contract to play professional rugby league for Leeds.
He was able to combine his rugby career with a growing interest in art and literature, attending Wakefield Art School between 1951 and 1953 and then Slade School of Fine Art in London, during which time he travelled back to Leeds at weekends for matches. He also produced a series of sketch designs for Christmas cards for Leeds Rugby Club and by the time he left Slade School of Fine Art he had completed around seven unpublished novels.
After completing his studies at Slade, Storey quit rugby and began working as a supply teacher in London. In 1956 he married Barbara Hamilton whom he had met as a schoolboy in Wakefield. Storey continued to write throughout this period and in 1960 his novel, ‘This Sporting Life,’ was published, winning the Macmillan Fiction Prize. Storey subsequently adapted it for the screen and the film, directed by Lindsay Anderson and starring Richard Harris, was released to great critical and commercial success in 1963.
He would go on to write a number of screenplays during the 1960s, including ‘Ned Kelly’ for Karel Reisz, the producer of ‘This Sporting Life,’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ for Lindsay Anderson
His second novel, ‘Flight into Camden,’ was released in 1960 and went on to win the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, given by the Society of Authors, in 1963. Further novels followed, including ‘Radcliffe’ in 1963; ‘Pasmore’ in 1972, winner of the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize; ‘Saville’ in 1976, winner of the Booker Prize for Fiction; and ‘A Serious Man’ in 1998.
The 1960s also saw the beginning of Storey’s close working relationship with the Royal Court Theatre in London when a play he had written in 1958, ‘The Restoration of Arnold Middleton,’ was staged by the Traverse Theatre Company in Edinburgh and subsequently performed at the Royal Court. The play won the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright in 1967, an award shared with a young Tom Stoppard, and Storey went on to write many successful plays, frequently staged under the direction of Lindsay Anderson. In 1969 ‘In Celebration,’ was staged at the Royal Court, followed by ‘The Contractor,’ which won Best Play of the Year at the London Theatre Critics Awards in 1969 as well as the New York Critics Best Play of the Year Award in 1973.
In 1969 Storey was named Writer of the Year by the Variety Club and the following year, 1970, saw the first production of ‘Home,’ one of his most acclaimed plays. Set in a mental hospital, the play was named New York Critics Best Play of the Year in 1970 and won the Evening Standard Award for the Best Play of the Year in 1971. It was also nominated for a Tony Award in the United States, and was adapted as a screenplay. Between 1972 and 1974 Storey also held the position of Associate Artistic Director at the Royal Court.
David Storey's next play, the rugby themed ‘The Changing Room,’ was also highly successful, winning the New York Critics Best Play of the Year Award in 1972, and nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 1973. In 1973 he premiered three new works, ‘Cromwell’ starring Albert Finney, ‘The Farm,’ and ‘Life Class’ starring Alan Bates. He followed these with ‘Mother’s Day’ in 1976, ‘Sisters’ in 1978, ‘Early Days’ in 1980, ‘Phoenix’ in 1984 and ‘Jubilee,’ originally staged as The March on Russia,’ in 1989. In 1994 his play ‘Caring’ starring Maggie Smith was broadcast by the BBC World Service.
Since the mid-1990s Storey has concentrated mostly on his novel writing with ‘as it happened’ published in 2002 and ‘Thin-Ice Skater’, in 2004.
David Storey died on 27 March 2017.

A typescript finding aid, to file level, is available for consultation in the searchroom of the Borthwick Institute.

Created by S. A. Shearn, 19.05.15.

A reprographics service is available to researchers subject to the access restrictions outlined above. Copying will not be undertaken if there is any risk of damage to the document. Copies are supplied in accordance with the Borthwick Institute for Archives' terms and conditions for the supply of copies, and under provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce images of documents in the custody of the Borthwick Institute must be sought.

Further accruals are expected.

A photographic poster for a performance of 'Home' by David Storey, starring John Gielgud, can be found in Miscellaneous Documents (Reference: MD/238/1).

The following items are still in the possession of the Storey family:
Archives:
26 books of handwritten diaries. Each has notes in the front of their content suggesting these were intended for a biographer (his memoir “A Stinging Delight” covers only some aspects of his life and ends ~ 20 years before he died.
David Storey correspondence home to his parents.
Family letters – many between David Storey, siblings, and parents and between David Storey and children and others.
Letters from David Storey's children.
David Storey's correspondence with schools (mainly Hampstead Comprehensive).
Medical file, and End of Life file.
Mantlepiece postcards.
Newspaper cuttings David Storey collected.
Newspaper cuttings collected by David Storey's mother.
David Storey's certificates and passports.
Barbara Storey (wife and mother of children) diaries and papers from the Hamilton/ Rudd family.
Posters:
Film poster for This Sporting Life 1.5M x1M.
The March on Russia - National Theatre.
The Changing room - in French, Theatre National de Toulouse.
Home Paul Eddington and Richard Briers – Wyndham’s Theatre.
In Celebration, Duke of York’s Orlando Bloom.
Home (translation by Hazel Karr) Paris, L’ Oevre x2, 2015.
Home, Arcola theatre, Paul Copley, Jack Shepherd, 2013 (card not poster).
The Contractor, Fortune theatre, Bill Owen, Constance Chapman, TP McKenna, Billy Russell - signed by cast.
The Farm, Royal Court Theatre, Lewis Collins, Frank Grimes, Bernard Lee, Patricia Healey.
Life Class, Royal Court Theatre, Alan Bates, Brian Glover, Frank Grimes, Rosemary Martin, x2.
Cromwell, Royal Court Theatre, Albert Finney, Brian Cox.
Saville, penguin book poster.
A1 Laminated posters from the Royal Court Memorial: This Sporting Life, In Celebration, The Changing Room, Early Days.
A1 of John Haynes portrait of David Storey.
Cromwell, Home (x 2 productions), March on Russia (Duke of York’s Theatre) Early Days & The Changing Room. All 32cm x 51cm.
Early Days & March on Russia at The National Theatre. 36cm x 56cm.
Artworks:
A Tender Tumult: A series of 400+ drawings - all numbered with exhibition plan. This was curated at the Hepworth with Alexander Storey Gordon (David’s grandson and Kate Storey’s son). See https://hepworthwakefield.org/whats-on/a-tender-tumult-the-art-of-david-storey/.

Published

GB 193