BENBOW WAS HIS NAME

Blurbs

Benbow Was His Name

CARYL BRAHMS and NED SHERRIN

Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin have a reputation for originality: Benbow Was His Name must be one of their most original joint creations. It began as a radio play—which was repeated. It was then produced on B.B.C. television and repeated, one critic describing it as the most consummate television entertainment of 1964'. Now it takes on new life as 'a tale of tall ships in battle fashioned into a novel'. Admiral John Benbow fought the only battle in British history in which the captains of a fleet refused their commander's order to engage the enemy. This occurred in the West Indies in 1702, when Benbow in an engagement with the French was abandoned and betrayed by his officers. He fought on, losing a. leg and finally being compelled to retire to Port Royal, where he saw the traitors court-martialled and condemned to death before he himself died of his wounds and his shame on their behalf.

Come all you seamen bold and draw near, And draw near!
Come all you seamen bold and draw near!
It's of an Admiral's fame,
Oh! Brave Benbow was his name,
How he fought all on the Main - You shall hear, you shall hear.

Out of this tragic story of courage and cowardice the authors have fashioned far more than a tale of tall ships in battle, though the account of brave Benbow's last action provides a stirring climax to their book. Drawing on the vast and varied literature of the sea, they have produced in their novel a great panorama of naval life and peopled it with new and amusing characters as well as many a well-known personality of the time.

ILLUSTRATED

Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin are a scintillating combination, as is shown by their joint successful output of songs, and plays for radio and television and the stage. For example, their radio play Cindy-Ella, or I Gotta Shoe began as a novel, was adapted for the stage, and then issued as a long-playing record.

Caryl Brahms is well known as a specialist in ballet and for her many books, particularly those written in collaboration with S. J. Simon, such as Bullet in the Ballet and No Bed for Bacon.

Ned Sherrin was called to the Bar in 1955, deserting it immediately for television. He directed Tonight before creating T.W.3, Not So Much A Programme More A Way Of Life, and B.B.C.3. He is now a producer with Columbia Pictures.

Illustrations

ADMIRAL BENBOW (by Sir Godfrey Kneller)

ANGLO-FRENCH ACTION

PRESS GANG

FLAGSHIP SHORTENING SAIL (by Samuel Scott)

A CAPTAIN'S CABIN
(Lord George Graham in his cabin by Hogarth)

STORM (by Cornelis van der Velde)

THE CAPTURE OF PORTO BELLO
(by Samuel Scott)