Roger Erskine Longrigg
Roger Erskine Longrigg was a versatile British author known for his extensive body of work across various genres and pen names. Born on May 1, 1929, in Edinburgh, Scotland, he pursued a degree in modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford, and served as a captain in the British army. Longrigg's literary repertoire includes mystery, suspense, horror, gothic romance, and nonfiction, with notable pseudonyms such as Frank Parrish, Ivor Drummond, and Domini Taylor, among others. His novel "The Passion Flower Hotel," written under the guise of a teenage girl, gained significant popularity and was adapted into both a stage musical and a film.
In addition to his fiction, Longrigg authored historical nonfiction focused on fox hunting and horse racing, reflecting his passions. Several of his works were successfully adapted for stage and screen, including the acclaimed miniseries "Mother Love." Longrigg's career spanned multiple decades, and he was married with three daughters. He passed away on February 26, 2000, at the age of seventy, leaving behind a diverse and impactful literary legacy.
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Roger Erskine Longrigg
Writer
- Born: May 1, 1929
- Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
- Died: February 26, 2000
- Place of death: Farnham, Surrey, England
Biography
Roger Erskine Longrigg was a prolific author in the United Kingdom who wrote under more than half a dozen pseudonyms in addition to his own name. He was Frank Parrish for a series of mystery and suspense novels featuring a roguish thief named Dan Mallett. Ivor Drummond was the pen name he used for a series that featured a trio of spies in James Bond-type adventures. Longrigg even wrote under women’s names. He used Laura Black for gothic romances and Grania Beckford for erotica. He wrote at least one book, Black-Eyed Susan, under the name Megan Barker. He was supposedly a fifteen-year-old girl named Rosaline Erskine when he wrote a teenage sexual romp and satire called The Passion Flower Hotel, which was translated into several languages and was a bestseller. As Domini Taylor, Longrigg wrote a handful of well-received horror novels. Under his own name, Longrigg wrote nonfiction, particularly historical works on fox hunting and horse racing, both of which he was devoted to, and comic novels that were often set in the world of professional horse racing or the world of high stakes advertising.
Longrigg was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on May 1, 1929, the son of Stephen Hemsley Longrigg and Florence Amy Anderson. He received a B.A. in modern history from Magdalen College at Oxford University and served in the British army, where he reached the rank of captain. Longrigg worked for years in advertising and his first novel, A High-Pitched Buzz (1956), was based in that environment. The book was primarily a comedy.
Several of Longrigg’s other works were adapted for the stage or screen. The Passion Flower Hotel, which was supposed to be a true story about teenage school girls who set up a brothel, became a stage musical in 1965, and the story was adapted as a film in 1977, featuring a sixteen-year-old Nastassja Kinski in one of her first roles. Mother Love, a story of a mother’s obsessive love for her son, which Longrigg wrote under the Domini Taylor pseudonym, was made into a critically acclaimed four-part miniseries that aired on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Diana Rigg starred in the series and won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award (BAFTA) for her performance.
Longrigg married Jane Catherine Chichester and had three daughters. He died at age seventy on February 26, 2000, at the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Farnham, England.