Robin Squire

Author and screenwriter Robin Squire grew up in north-west England, where he attended Sale Grammar School and was mentored by the Head of English and Doctor of Letters, G.G. Urwin, who recognised his abilities from an early age. He has since been, among other things, an infantry soldier, driver, hot-dog seller, house-cleaner, film extra, ditch-digger, copy-editor, proofreader, magazine editor and journalist, singer in care homes, and single parent. Above all, he is a writer, and regards all these diverse experiences as essential grist to the writer's mill. While working as an office equipment salesman, too much time spent scribbling ideas for a book instead of selling led to the loss of the job, and the publication of his first novel by W.H. Allen & Co., Square One: the gritty reality-based story of a pop group's efforts to find gigs and hit the big time in the Swinging Sixties. Time Out magazine distinguished Square One as 'one of the better books about pop', and it was also published in paperback by New English Library. On the strength of this, Robin was invited to join BBC TV in London, where he became a trainee script editor in the Doctor Who office, a reader in the Script Unit, and later played walk-on parts in numerous productions including: Doctor Who, The Bill, Upstairs Downstairs, Churchill's People, Elizabeth R (with Glenda Jackson), Only Fools and Horses, The Goodies, Are You Being Served, The Two Ronnies, The Rory Bremner Show, Hale and Pace, EastEnders, Robin of Sherwood and many more. He also played Inspector Littlechild in a Jack The Ripper documentary on Channel 4. Robin continued writing: occult love-horror story A Portrait of Barbara was published in 1978 by Bachman & Turner and Sphere Books in the UK, and by St Martin's Press in New York. He has long provided a literary feedback and editing service for aspiring writers, and says he feels privileged when one of his talented protégés achieves success. In The Making of a Britflick (Tagman Press, 2012) Robin uses the technique of reality-novel-in-diary-form to depict the frustrating, hilarious, muddled progress of one of his scripts to the big screen, based loosely on a film which featured Hugh Bonneville and Joan Plowright. The Lady magazine commented in their review of this book: 'Lack of finance, amazing pieces of good fortune, followed by total disaster, are all part of this touching, amusing and uplifting story'. Robin's first venture into screenwriting had been on a Norman Cohen film in South Africa. Since then, directors he has worked with include Robert Young, John Glen, John Irvin, David Maloney, Geoff Harris and Derek Martinus. He has several complete, registered, new film and TV scripts available (illustrated synopses can be viewed on his website). Some have already been optioned. Robin's 2013 projects include getting his optioned scripts to the screen, and others into the hands of production companies of integrity and vision, seeking strong stories which will fill cinemas worldwide. He is also crafting the first of a series of books for children based on the exploits of a charismatic psychic detective with an astonishing background that challenges the imagination. His latest completed book, Lavender Days, is a bittersweet romantic novella based on a real-life experience. An article in 'She' magazine leads to a 'blind date' of the most extraordinary kind and a passionate affair between a struggling British writer and an American woman in Provence. Realistic, romantic and heartwarming, with an unsentimental feelgood twist at the end, Lavender Days is due out in 2013. Robin Squire has two lovely daughters, and lives in Hertfordshire, England.