E. S. Turner

During the 1950s, as a now permanent freelance writer, Turner contributed regularly to Punch Magazine, the leading satirical magazine with the accent on humour and pastiche. This source of income enabled him to concentrate more on writing books. Turner's literary flexibility was illustrated when he wrote a Betjeman-style pastiche for the Royal wedding of The Princess Anne and Mark Phillips on 14 November 1973, subsequently quoted in an obituary by Miles Kington in 2006.^{[9][full citation needed]}

In all, some 19 works by Turner were published in book form during his most productive period,^[when?] including two novels under the pseudonym of "Rupert Lang."^{[citation needed]}

Late career

E. S. Turner contributed many pieces in his later years to publications such as the

Appraisal in retrospect looks at Turner's dedication to freelance writing—Jonathan Sale referred to him as "the patron saint of freelancing"[1]—and has focused on his energy, productivity, the scope of his writing, and on its inherent humanity.^{[1][3][4][12]} Andrew O'Hagan, in his 1998 LRB retrospective, noted that while Turner's fingers had always been light on the keyboard, his writing was "with a strongly human pulse just under the skin, a richness of personal feeling in the blood."^[4]

The Telegraph noted in its obituary that Turner, over "succeeding decades... produced a stream of books... praised by reviewers; it was said that the author had invented a new kind of book which demonstrated the British genius for tremendous trifles."^[12] Miles Kington, a fellow journalist intersecting with Turner at Punch recalls Turner at editorial lunches:

"A lot of the writers were rather arrogantly self-effacing… but Ernest always seemed to me like an elder statesman. He knew how to do it. He still does. He would come into those meetings with the most extraordinary ideas. 'Have you noticed the way the French… at those village markets they always have diagrams and suchlike of the human body, always worrying over themselves.' And then he'd be off writing a funny piece. He takes hold of a subject, advertising or boys’ magazines, and he causes you to feel you’ve learned everything there is to know about the subject... And that's not all… his parodies of Betjeman are better than Betjeman.’^[4]

Some mention is made of political leanings—O'Hagan refers to Turner as "never a left-wing diehard" and as having a "rightwing persona (which was only partly a pose)"

With regard to the correctness of his writing, when viewed from a 21st-century perspective, O'Hagan writes that "[t]he Britain Mr Turner writes about may (like Punch) no longer be here… There's always a whole new set of things you're not allowed to laugh at… you can't laugh at newsagents. You can't snigger at class, or Princess Diana, even if you're the sort of person who might always have done so. Mr Turner might say we fought for the right to say farewell to Smith, the right to meet Patel. But it would not be a popular thing to say."[4]

Personal life

Turner met Helen Martin from New York City in the U.S., and they married in 1937 and saw 30 anniversaries;

"[W]hen his local paper, the Richmond and Twickenham Times, modestly expanded ES to Ernest in a puff for... his final book, the solecism prompted a modest rebuke… in a letter to the editor… [where Turner declared] 'The first-naming of all and sundry is the curse of the age' [and where he] went on to wonder if the paper's then proprietor, David Dimbleby, would care to be known as 'Dave.'"[12]

In the 1998 LRB interview, O'Hagan noted, "Sometimes Mr Turner can't think of an answer to one of my questions. But when he sits at the typewriter, and begins to write, great swathes of his story come clean. He would later send me these typed pages. And they sit here in front of me now, covered in shadows of print, and they speak of a man altogether present."^[4] O'Hagan goes on to quote the author of 80 years of journalism, 50 years of Punch contributions, and 20 published books, to say, "I don't know how you’ll get a whole article out of me... ‘I haven't a whole lot to say.’"^[4]

Published works

The following are some of Turner's main book-length published works, with sources as indicated:

• Boys Will Be Boys: The Story of Sweeney Todd, Deadwood Dick, Sexton Blake, Billy Bunter, Dick Barton et al. (1948), a study of the
  penny dreadfuls, a Victorian pulp hero genre, a study receiving "enthusiastic notices" in the U.K., The New Yorker and Time, so successful it went to reprint twice in the first week of publication.^[12][14]
• Roads to Ruin: A Shocking History of Social Progress (1950), on the upper class's "disgraceful rearguard action…" against reforms such as "abolition of child chimney sweeps and the repeal of laws under which convicted criminals could be hung, drawn and quartered."^[1][15]
• The Shocking History of Advertising (1952), as its name implies,^[12] published by Michael Joseph.^{[full citation needed]}
• The Third Pip (1952), novel, under the pseudonym Rupert Lang,^[12] published by Constable.^{[full citation needed]}
• Maiden Voyage (1954), novel, under the pseudonym Rupert Lang.^{[12][full citation needed]}
• ISBN 0860258173.^{[full citation needed}
  ]
• Gallant Gentlemen (1956), an historical look at British officers,^[12] published by Michael Joseph.^{[full citation needed]}
• Call the Doctor (1958), a social history of British physicians and medical practitioners,^[12] published by St. Martin's Press, see [17], accessed 28 May 2015.^{[full citation needed]}
• All Heaven in a Rage (1964), a history of human cruelty towards animals.^[16]
• The Phoney War on the Home Front (1961), study of restrictions and public ill-temper in Great Britain before The Blitz.^[12][17]
• What the Butler Saw: Two Hundred and Fifty Years of the Servant Problem (1963), a critical survey of employer and employed, "in service."^[12][18]
• Hemlock Lane (1968), novel, under his own name.^[12][19]
• ISBN 0141390832.^{[full citation needed}
  ]
• Amazing Grace: The Great Days of Dukes (1975), a social history of English dukedoms.^[12][20]
• Dear Old Blighty (1980), an account of life 'on the home front' in Britain during the Great War, 1914–1918,^[21]
• Unholy Pursuits: The Wayward Parsons of Grub Street (1998), a history of the journalistic moonlighting by Anglican clergymen.^[12][22]