death_date death_place birth_place name birth_date article_title birth_name
15 november 1986 -lrb- aged 64 -rrb- kentish town , london , england hengoed , shropshire , england michael croft 8 march 1922 michael croft
 john michael croft
michael croft

john michael croft , obe -lrb- 8 march 1922 -- 15 november 1986 -rrb- was an english actor , schoolteacher , and writer .
he founded , and was the lifelong director of , the national youth theatre of great britain .
based upon his own experience of supply teaching in tough secondary schools , he wrote the controversial anti-corporal punishment novel `` spare the rod '' , which was later released as a film .
