Selwyn Jepson (1899 - 1989) was a British author, of the Far House, Farther Common, Liss, Hants. The son of mystery/detective author Edgar Alfred Jepson (1863-1938), he was schooled at St. Paul's School (London) and the Sorbonne. He served in the Tank Corps during World War I and in the Special Operations Executive in World War II. Captain Selwyn Jepson was SOE's senior recruiting officer. When interviewed by the Imperial War Museum he stated:
- "I was responsible for recruiting women for the work, in the face of a good deal of opposition, I may say, from the powers that be. In my view, women were very much better than men for the work. Women, as you must know, have a far greater capacity for cool and lonely courage than men. Men usually want a mate with them. Men don't work alone, their lives tend to be always in company with other men. There was opposition from most quarters until it went up to Churchill, whom I had met before the war. He growled at me, "What are you doing?" I told him and he said, "I see you are using women to do this," and I said, "Yes, don't you think it is a very sensible thing to do?" and he said, "Yes, good luck to you." That was my authority!"
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Author
He was a well known mystery/detective author and screenwriter, best known for Keep Murder Quiet (1940), the "Eve Gill" ingénue sleuth novel series, and other non-series novels:
- The Qualified Adventurer (1922)
- Puppets of Fate (1922)
- Golden-Eyes (1922), US title The Sutton Papers
- That Fellow MacArthur (1923)
- The King's Red-Haired Girl (1923)
- Rogues and Diamonds (1925)
- Snaggletooth (1926)
- The Death Gong (1927)
- Love and Helen (1928)
- Tiger Dawn (1929)
- I Met Murder (1930)
- Rabbit's Paw (1932) US title The Mystery of the Rabbit's Paw
- Heads and Tails (1933) short story collection
- Love in Peril (1934)
- The Wise Fool (1934)
- Riviera Love Story (1948)
- Tempering Steel (1949)
- Man Dead (1951)
- The Assassin (1956)
- A Noise in the Night (1957)
- The Third Possibility (1965)
- The Angry Millionaire (1968)
- Letter to a Dead Girl (1971)
Screenwriter and Director
As screenwriter and director he is known for :
- The Red Dress (1954) screenwriter
- The Last Moment (1954) screenwriter
- Forever My Heart (1954) screenwriter
- Sailing Along (1938) screenwriter
- Toilers of the Sea (1936) director, screenwriter
- Wrath of Jealousy (1936) screenwriter
- The Scarab Murder Case (1936) screenwriter
- Kiss Me Goodbye (1935) screenwriter
- Hyde Park Corner (1935) screenwriter
- The Love Test (1935) screenwriter
- The Riverside Murder (1935) screenwriter
- Money Mad (1934) screenwriter
- For Love of You (1933) screenwriter
Film adaptation
The Alfred Hitchcock film Stage Fright (1950) was based on Selwyn Jepson’s novel and on his stories Man Running and Outrun the Constable (which are uncredited). They were adapted for the screen by Hitchcock’s wife and frequent collaborator Alma Reville with additional dialog by James Bridie and Ranald MacDougall.
Television
Selwyn Jepson had many pieces converted for broadcast by the BBC. BBC archival material exists for their productions of The Golden Dart and The Hungry Spider is held by the Mausoleum Club.[1]
