article_title name birth_date death_date
peter haining -lrb- author -rrb-
 peter haining 2 april 1940 19 november 2007
peter haining -lrb- author -rrb-

peter alexander haining -lrb- 2 april 1940 -- 19 november 2007 -rrb- was a british journalist , author and anthologist who lived and worked in suffolk .
born in enfield , middlesex , he began his career as a reporter in essex and then moved to london where he worked on a trade magazine before joining the publishing house of new english library .
haining achieved the position of editorial director before becoming a full-time writer in the early seventies .
he edited a large number of anthologies , predominantly of horror and fantasy short stories , wrote non-fiction books on a variety of topics from the channel tunnel to sweeney todd and also used the pen names `` ric alexander '' and `` richard peyton '' on a number of crime story anthologies .
in the seventies he wrote three novels , including `` the hero '' -lrb- 1973 -rrb- , which was optioned for filming .
in two controversial books , haining argued that sweeney todd was a real historical figure who committed his crimes around 1800 , was tried in december 1801 , and was hanged in january 1802 .
however , other researchers who have tried to verify his citations find nothing in these sources to back haining 's claims .
strong reservations have also been expressed regarding the reliability of another of haining 's influential non-fiction works , `` the legend and bizarre crimes of spring heeled jack '' .
he wrote several reference books on the bbc tv programme `` doctor who '' , including the 20th anniversary special `` doctor who : a celebration two decades through time and space '' -lrb- 1983 -rrb- , and also wrote the definitive study of sherlock holmes on the screen , `` the television sherlock holmes '' -lrb- 1991 -rrb- and several other television tie-ins featuring famous literary characters , including maigret , poirot , dr. finlay and james bond .
peter haining 's most recent project was a series of world war two stories based on extensive research and personal interviews : `` the jail that went to sea '' -lrb- 2003 -rrb- , `` the mystery of rommel 's gold '' -lrb- 2004 -rrb- , `` where the eagle landed '' -lrb- 2004 -rrb- , `` the chianti raiders '' -lrb- 2005 -rrb- and `` the banzai hunters '' -lrb- 2007 -rrb- .
he won the british fantasy awards karl edward wagner award in 2001 .
