   winston mawdsley graham obe (30 june 1908 â 10 july 2003) was an english novelist, best known for the poldark novels series of historical fiction. ==biography== graham was born at 66 langdale road, victoria park, manchester, england. when he was 17 years old, he relocated to perranporth, cornwall. his first novel, the house with the stained glass windows, was published in 1934; his first poldark novel, ross poldark, was published in 1945, and was succeeded by a series of eleven further titles, the last of which, bella poldark, was published in 2002. the series was set in cornwall, especially in and near perranporth, where graham lived for more than three decades (1925-1959). the first seven poldark novels were turned into a bbc television series first broadcast in the uk between 1975 and 1977, which gained audiences of about 14 million viewers. it was so successful that some vicars rescheduled or cancelled church services rather than try to have them clash with the transmission of the poldark series. other than the poldark novels, graham's most successful work was marnie (1961), a thriller filmed by alfred hitchcock with tippi hedren and sean connery in the leads. the novel was also adapted as a play by sean o'connor (producer) in 2001 and returned the story to its original british setting and bleak ending. five of graham's other books were filmed, including the walking stick, night without stars and take my life. graham was an accomplished author of suspense novels and during the course of his life wrote thirty-two novels (in addition to the twelve poldark books). a 1941 spy thriller, night journey, set in the contemporary nazi-occupied europe captures some of the spirit of the time, with the protagonist believing that britain was perhaps going to lose the war but is determined to "go down fighting". graham also wrote a history of the spanish armadas and an historical novel, the grove of eagles, set in that period. (the plural &
1908_births 2003_deaths Cornish_writers English_Anglicans English_historical_novelists English_memoirists English_novelists English_thriller_writers Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Literature Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire