Writer and playwright David Benedictus has died out of the blue on the age of 85, his household has stated.
The author was finest recognized for novels together with the Eton-set The Fourth Of June, which he tailored right into a West Finish play, and You’re A Massive Boy Now, which was became a 1966 movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
He additionally wrote the 2009 Winnie The Pooh guide Return To The Hundred Acre Wooden, a sequel to The Home at Pooh Nook and the primary Pooh guide since 1928.
Benedictus beforehand wrote and produced an audio adaptation of AA Milne’s Winnie The Pooh tales within the Nineties, which impressed him to put in writing two Pooh brief tales of his personal, which he submitted to the trustees of the Milne property.
These ultimately grew to become the tales in Return To The Hundred Acre Wooden.
He wrote greater than 20 different books, together with the Cambridge-set Floating Down To Camelot and his memoir Dropping Names.
The creator additionally earned fame along with his information to profitable on the racetrack, Uncle Ernie’s System, which ran to 38 editions.
Benedictus labored extensively for the BBC on its drama and leisure programmes, working as editor of readings for BBC Radio from 1989 to 1995.
He has additionally produced music programmes for Radio 2, together with a sequence on movie music.
His household has remembered him as “a gifted chess participant, an enthusiastic pianist and inventive parker,” including: “David overflowed with optimism, generosity and enjoyable.
“As much as the tip, he was nonetheless stuffed with tasks, together with his unstaged musical, The Blissful Hypocrite, and a sequence he dreamed of recording about his years on the BBC.
“When requested how he was doing, he all the time stated: ‘In addition to I deserve.’ And his ultimate tip within the Grand Nationwide romped residence at 16 to 1.”
Benedictus is survived by his 4 youngsters, together with the barrister Jolyon Maughamson Leo, and daughters Chloe and Jessica, and his six grandchildren, in addition to his former spouse Yvonne Antrobus.