David James Mossman
David James Mossman (10 September 1926 – 5 April 1971) was a British journalist, broadcaster, TV reporter, film-maker, interviewer and former MI6 agent.
Career
With producer David Webster, he made two notable programmes about the
Personal life
As a high-profile news reporter but closeted gay man in an era where homosexuality was outlawed, by the mid-1960s Mossman fell in love with Canadian Louis Hanssen. Hanssen was married to a woman and eight years younger than Mossman, however this didn't stop a relationship forming between the two. Hanssen died in 1968 of an accidental overdose.[2] Their relationship gave rise to speculation with colleagues of Mossman, who described Hanssen as domineering in their relationship.
Death
In 1971, Mossman committed suicide in his cottage in Norfolk by taking a fatal overdose[3] of barbiturates, leaving behind a note that read: "I can't bear it any more, though I don't know what 'it' is."
In popular culture
Peter Shaffer, the author of the play Equus, claimed that during a stay at the Norfolk cottage, Mossman, of whom he was a friend, told him the story on which he based the play.[4]
On 14 February 2007, The Reporter, a play by Nicholas Wright based on his book and directed by Richard Eyre, premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London. The play explores the social climate in the years before Mossman's death as well as the reasons for the death itself.
Bibliography
- Rebels in paradise : Indonesia's civil war, Jonathan Cape publishers, 1961, ISBN B0007KG0SE
- Beggars on horseback. Little Brown, 1966, ISBN B0007DRYJ0 - winner of the Author's Club First Novel Award
- Love, Love, Love, BBC, 1967, ISBN B0007K7YY8
- Lifelines, Bodley Head, 1971, ISBN 0-370-01430-8
References
- ^ Smith, Ben Reiley (19 August 2003). "Salmond Denounces Sturgeon". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 27 February 2021.[dead link]
- ^ Dowd, Vincent (27 February 2007). "Staging Mossman's tragic story". BBC News.
- ^ Spencer, Charles (23 February 2007). "Haunting portrait of a mysterious life". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
- ^ William Inge Theatre Festival – Peter Shaffer Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- The Real Jim, The Guardian, 3 February 2007
- Interview with Nicholas Wright, Financial Times, 16 February 2007
- Slot on Mossman and the play The Reporter on BBC Radio 4's programme, The World Tonight - 22 February 2007
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