Eden Phillpotts (November, 1862 – December 29, 1960) was an English novelist, poet, and dramatist. He was born in India, educated in Plymouth, Devon, and worked as an insurance officer for 10 years before studying for the stage and eventually becoming a writer. December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 2 days remaining. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi   - Water (%) Population... Plymouth is a city in the southwest of England, or alternatively the Westcountry, and is situated within the traditional county of Devon. ... Devon is a large county in South West England, bordering on Cornwall to the west, Dorset and Somerset to the east. ...

He was the author of many novels, plays and poems about Dartmoor. His Dartmoor cycle of 18 novels and two volumes of short stories still have many avid readers despite the fact that many titles are out of print. This article or section seems not to be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry. ...

Philpotts also wrote many other books with a Dartmoor setting. He was for many years the President of the Dartmoor Preservation Association and cared passionately about the conservation of Dartmoor. The Dartmoor Preservation Association or DPA was founded in 1883. ...

One of his novels, Widecombe Fair, inspired by an annual fair at the village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor, provided the scenario for his comic play The Farmer's Wife. It went on to become a silent movie of the same name, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and filmed in 1927. The cast included: Jameson Thomas, Lillian Hall-Davis, Gordon Harker and Gibb McLaughlin. Widecombe Fair takes place annually on the second Tuesday in September, attracting thousands of visitors to the tiny Dartmoor village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor. ... Widecombe-in-the-Moor is a small village located within the heart of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon in the United Kingdom. ... The Farmer’s Wife is a silent movie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1928. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was a highly influential director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... Lillian Hall-Davis (born June 23, 1898 in London; died October 25, 1933 in London) was a British film leading actress during the silent era. ...

Philpotts was a friend of Agatha Christie, who was a fan of his work and a regular visitor to his home. Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976), was an English crime fiction writer. ...

Some of his novels about Dartmoor include:

• My Devon Year (ISBN 1-84114-136-4)
• Children of the Mist
• The River
• The Thief of Virtue
• The Whirlwind
• The Beacon
• Orphan Dinah
• The American Prisoner
• Virgin in Judgment
• The Three Brothers
• Children of Men
• "The Mother"

He also wrote a series of novels each set against the background of a different trade or industry. Titles include: "Brunel's Tower" (a pottery), "Storm in a Teacup" (hand-papermaking). There have been five movies titled The River: The River (1997) directed by Tsai Ming-liang. ... The American Prisoner is a novel written by Eden Phillpotts, adapted into a film in 1929. ... Children of Men is 2006 sci fi thriller directed by Alfonso Cuaron. ...

Among his other works is The Grey Room, the plot of which is centered on a haunted room in an English manor house. He also wrote a number of mystery novels, both under his own name and the pseudonym "Harrington Hext". Titles include: "The Thing at Their Heels", "The Red Redmaynes", "The Monster", "The Clue from the Stars" and "The Captain's Curio".

Although mainly a novelist, he also wrote several plays, the most famous being Yellow Sands. Yellow Sands opened at the Fulton Theatre on 9/10/1927 and closed 10/1927 for a total of 25 performances. ...

Late in his long writing career he wrote a few books of interest to science fiction readers, the most noteworthy being Saurus, which involves an alien reptilian being observing human life, somewhat after the fashion in which ethnographers observed peoples deemed "primitive" at that time. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Ethnography (from the Greek ethnos = nation and graphe = writing) refers to the qualitative description of human social phenomena, based on months or years of fieldwork. ...

External links

• Works by Eden Phillpotts at Project Gutenberg
• ISFDB page