Ernest Dudley

Born Vivian Ernest Coltman-Allen was born in Dudley near Wolverhampton, England but he grew up in Cookham, Berkshire where his father owned a public house and he was educated at Taplow School, which was run by nuns. The artist Stanley Spencer lived next door to Ernest and his friends included writers and actors such as Ivor Novello and Jack Buchanan and it was the latter who steered young Ernest toward acting (in later life Ernest was to write a stage show for him.)

At 17 Ernest ran away to become an actor, joining a company performing Shakespeare in various Irish towns. Ernest was later to say he only went into the theatre to meet girls and in 1930 he married Jane Grahame, who for several years played one of the Lost Boys in 'Peter Pan'. Ja

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Charles Daly King (1895-1963) was an American psychologist. He was educated at Newark Academy, Yale and Columbia University. After Army service in WW1 he trained in psychology and wrote several textbooks. In the 1930s he wrote seven detective novels while working in psychology. His detective, Michael Lord, is attached to the New York police department. Lord's cases are recounted by a Watson figure, Dr L Rees Pons. King coined the word 'Obelists' to describe suspects, and used it in three of his titles. Another series character, Trevis Tarrant, appears in a book of short stories. After Bermuda Burial (1940) King wrote no further fiction.
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