John Goldsmith

John was born in London in 1947 and educated at Winchester, where he won the Queen’s Gold Medal for English Verse, and the University of Aix-Marseille (Diplome de langue et lettres Francaises.). At the age of 21 he sold his first novel, ‘Mrs. Mount, Ascendant’,  to Leonard Woolf at the Hogarth Press. He subsequently worked for Hogarth/Chatto & Windus as a part-time reader and editor while breaking into TV by contributing episodes to the action-adventure series ‘The Protectors’.

After a short stretch in business he returned to full-time writing with the publication of his second novel, ‘The Icing of Balthazar’, in 1977, and a script for the cult sci-fi series ‘Space’, 1999. He also took on freelance editing work, with Edna Healy’s ‘Lady Unknown’, Sir John Gielgud’s ‘An Actor and His Time’, and the art historian Roger Hinx’s acclaimed ‘Gymnasium of the Mind’. He gave up this sort of work in 1986 having reached the summit of Sir Stephen Spender’s ‘Journals’. During this period he also contributed scripts to vintage British TV series including ‘The New Avengers’, ‘The Return of the Saint’ and ‘The Professionals’.

In film and television, since the late 1980’s he has concentrated on historical subjects (‘Catherine the Great’; ‘Kings in Grass Castles’; ‘Paradise Found’; ‘A Bear Named Winnie’; ‘La Belle Otero’), classic adaptations (‘Great Expectations’; ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’; ‘David Copperfield’; ‘Kidnapped’) and Biblical epics (‘In the Beginning’; ‘Mary Mother of Jesus’; ‘The Gospel of John’). He started writing for the American market in 1987 with The Disney Channel’s thirteen-hour swashbuckler ‘Return to Treasure Island’.

He has published three other novels, including his child of shame, the airport bookstall blockbuster ‘Bullion’ (1982).  He has also published numerous children’s books.

His TV documentary ‘Mrs Livingstone, I Presume’ won the Silver Award at the New York International Film and TV Festival. His feature adaptation of Roald Dahl’s ‘Danny, Champion of the World’ was nominated for an ACE in the writing category and won the award for Childrens’ Programming 9+, picking up five more awards in various festivals and countries. His ‘Waltz Through the Hills’ picked up numerous awards, including the 1988 Australian Pater Award. As writer, he was nominated for an Emmy in 1998-99 for ‘The Island on Bird Street’ and the movie itself won Best Picture in its category. His critically acclaimed  mini series ‘Victoria & Albert’ was nominated for Best Mini Series at Banff in 2002. His ‘Gospel of John’ won the Templeton Foundation Epiphany Award in 2003. In 2005 he was nominated for a Gemini Award for ‘A Bear Named Winnie’.

In 1978 he published the best-selling ‘Voyage in the Beagle’, an account of the re-enactment of Darwin’s famous voyage in which he served as a crew member of the replica ship that featured in the BBC series ‘The Voyage of Charles Darwin’. Darwin resurfaced in his 2008 movie ‘Darwin’s Darkest Hour’.

He is currently writing ‘To the Bitter End’ for Australian producer Carolyn Frichot at Signalhill and ScreenOz.