Alan Herbert

Humourist, author and playwright, Sir Alan Patrick Herbert was better known just by his initials A. P.

The son of an Irishman, who served in the India Office, A. P. was educated at Winchester College where he played for the football XI and also enjoyed playing tennis. He then went to New College, Oxford, before joining the Hawke Battalion of the Royal Naval Division in 1914. Herbert saw action in Gallipoli, where he was mentioned in dispatches, and in France, where he was wounded. He was called to the Bar in 1918 but, to his later regret, never practiced. Instead, he served as the private secretary to the Member of Parliament (MP) Sir Leslie Scott, and this was to give him a good insight into the workings of politics, which would be useful in later life.

During his time at Winchester, Herbert had his first article published by Punch, and after World War I decided to develop his writing skills. His first success as an author was with the publication of The Secret Battle in 1919. It told about life on the Western Front and the horrors of Gallipoli. Field Marshall Montgomery called it: “The best story of front-line war I have read. .The Water Gipsies (1930), and Holy Deadlock (1934), were two more outstanding books by Herbert. His comedy musicals attracted some of the best comedians of the day to appear in his West End productions. In all, Herbert was credited with over 50 books, musical plays and revues, light verse, and articles. Many of them showed a lighter, and satirical, side of life.

Herbert was elected as MP for the Oxford University constituency in 1935, and held the post until its abolition in 1950 after 147 years on the Parliamentary map. During his time as an MP, Herbert campaigned for water buses on the River Thames, a reform of the betting laws, a change in the laws on obscenity, and a better deal for authors’ royalties. He was also a regular contributor of letters to The Times, and once said that if he had been paid for them all, he could have bought his old friend Lord Astor of Hever’s yacht. Herbert was knighted in 1945, and made a Companion of Honour in the 1971 New Year’s honours list, for services to literature

In 1970, to commemorate his 80th birthday Herbert published A.P.H. His Life and Times. Over the years, he held several important offices, including Trustee of the National Maritime Museum and President of the London Corinthian Sailing Club. He also held posts with the Inland Waterways Association and, perhaps his most favourite one of all, as a member of the Black Lion Skittles Club, one of his favourite pastimes.