Publicity

The Society is continually seeking opportunities of publicising James Hilton and promoting interest in his life and work. An article on the Society was published in the February issue of the Book and Magazine Collector and this has already stimulated considerable interest.

Libraries are another valuable means of publicity. Hexham Library, for example, decided to have a "James Hilton Week" in October 2004 which included a performance of And Now Goodbye and a display about Hilton's other novels and films. We hope other libraries will adopt similar initiatives. All it needs is one or two enthusiastic members to start the ball rolling.

Here is the transcript of a recent press release by the Society:-

"James Hilton, novelist and scriptwriter, rose from obscurity to become the best selling author of Lost Horizon, Goodbye Mr Chips and Random Harvest. At the height of his fame he topped the best seller lists on both sides of the Atlantic and helped to write the scripts of the classic Hollywood film Mrs Miniver, starring Greer Garson and released in 1942.

Born in Leigh, Lancashire in 1900, James Hilton was the only son of a schoolmaster . He spent his early life in Walthamstow, London and at the age of 14 became a pupil at The Leys School, Cambridge, a Methodist boarding school, where he remained for three years. Whilst at the school he was taught by Mr W H Balgarnie, the senior classics master (known affectionately as "Uncle" to generations of boys) later immortalised by Hilton in Goodbye Mr Chips.

He then became an undergraduate at Christ's College Cambridge, graduating, with honours in English & History. After leaving Cambridge he spent the next ten years living quietly with his parents in Woodford Green, Essex, earning his "bread and butter" by writing articles and book reviews for the Daily Telegraph, the Manchester Guardian and other papers. In his spare time he toiled away at a series of novels, but none of these achieved commercial success. He wrote later "I was not exactly over burdened with royalties".

Success finally came to him in 1931 with the publication of his novel And Now Goodbye, a tender love story. This was followed by Knight Without Armour, an exciting yarn set during the Russian Revolution, and Lost Horizon, a haunting tale of a lost civilisation hidden in the mountains of Tibet. It was Lost Horizon which gave the word "Shangri-La" to the English Language. "Shangri-La" must be one of the most popular house names in Britain - and the name has come to mean an ideal retreat from the world.

In 1934 came his classic story, Goodbye Mr Chips, written in four days , which became an overnight success. It was filmed twice, adapted for radio and television, and translated into twenty languages. Robert Donat won an Oscar for his performance as "Chips" in the 1939 version.

After this success Hilton was invited to Hollywood to help write film scripts, and he sailed for America in October 1935, taking with him his new English wife Alice Brown. He remained in Hollywood for the rest of his life, advising on films based on his own novels - including Lost Horizon and We are Not Alone - and also contributing to other films including Camille, Mrs Miniver and Foreign Correspondent. He narrated Madame Curie starring Greer Garson and Walter Pigeon, and also So Well Remembered, starring John Mills, Trevor Howard and Patricia Roc.

In 1941 he published his well known novel Random Harvest, which sold 100,000 copies in six weeks. MGM promptly snapped up the film rights and turned out a memorable film version which the BBC Film Guide describes as "one of the best loved and best remembered movies of all time". The story of a First World War soldier who is haunted by a memory of a lost love affair has captivated generations of film goers. The ending of the film has become a Hollywood legend.

Hilton died of liver cancer at the early age of 54. His novels and films are still fondly remembered today. There is now a flourishing James Hilton Society promoting interest in his life and work. With Lost Horizon, Random Harvest and Goodbye Mr Chips all available in attractive paperback editions, his films available on video and DVD, and the Shangri-La legend as potent as ever there is little chance that Hilton will be forgotten."

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