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David Andrew Yallop was born on 27th January 1937 in South London. His mother was Irish and his father English. He was brought up as a Catholic, served as an altar boy in the local church and attended the local school. He was an average student in all subjects but English at which he excelled. His talent was recognised and encouraged by his teacher Mr. Collins.
He left school at the age of 14 as his mother could no longer afford to keep him there, and got work as a tea boy in a newspaper office as he wanted to be a journalist. He did National Service, which was obligatory in those days, and then started to get work in television. Independent television had started on 22nd September 1955. After several jobs along the way David was accepted by Associated Rediffusion which then became Rediffusion as Assistant Floor Manager then Floor Manager. With the change of the companies in 1968 David went to London Weekend Television. He started writing alongside his television work and eventually gave up his television job to write full time.
He started writing for television before he started writing his books because he was there. During the sixties and seventies he wrote for many of the pop groups, some singers and comedians. Names he remembers writing for are the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, James Brown, Elton John, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Dusty Springfield, Ingrid Bergman, Lulu, Cilla Black, the Who, Freddie and the Dreamers, Frankie Laine, the Moody Blues, the Monkees, Tom Jones, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Desmond Decker, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Phil Collins, the Righteous Brothers, Sonny and Cher, Noddy Holder and Slade, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Nat King Cole, Billy Daniels, David Whitfield, Englebert Humperdinck, the Four Tops, Stan Getz, Gary Glitter, Hot Chocolate, Jackie Wilson, the Bee Gees, Marianne Faithfull, Georgie Fame, Judy Garland, Julie Covington, Dave Dee Dozey Beaky Mick and Titch, Kiki D, Kenny Lynch, Stevie Wonder, David Barry, Meatloaf, Ike and Tina Turner, Louis Armstrong, the Hollies, Matt Munro, Mary Hopkins. He wrote special material for Charlie Drake, Rolf Harris, David Frost and Spike Milligan.
He is best known for his ten blockbuster books which have just been released on Kindle by Amazon, although some are still in print in book form. Deliver us from Evil: To Encourage the Others: In God's Name - which has never been out of print since it was written and first published in 1984 - Beyond Reasonable Doubt: To the Ends of the Earth: the Day the Laughter Stopped - the story of Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle. This book is very hard to get now, but it is obtainable secondhand. It is of particular interest to film buffs as Roscoe Arbuckle was one of the first Hollywood movie stars. He worked with Mack Sennett and was one of the first Keystone Kopps. Roscoe Arbuckle introduced both Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton to the industry. Indeed the title of the book 'the Day the Laughter Stopped' are words spoken by Buster Keaton. The book is a fascinating description of the beginning of the Hollywood Movie business and the power it achieved. Beyond Belief: Unholy Alliance: How they Stole the Game and the Power and the Glory make up the 10. They have been translated into many languages and have been published all over the world. He has written under the names David A. Yallop which his mother prefered and David Yallop which his publishers prefer.
He was a prolific writer of scripts for television and also wrote screenplays for two movies and a theatre play. Movies he wrote scripts for are 'Chicago Joe and the Showgirl' starring Keifer Sutherland and Emily Lloyd and 'Beyond Reasonable Doubt' - from his novel of the same name. This was commissioned by New Zealand director John Barnett and starred Australian actor John Hargreaves and British actor David Hemmings. In 2014 John Barnett said it is still a film he is proud of.
Minder - George Cole and Dennis Waterman of course - David wrote several scripts including 'The Balance of Power' in Series 5 : two episodes in series 7 'Days of Fines and Closures' and 'The Wrong Goodbye' Series 8 boasted five David Yallop scripts: 'The Loneliness of the Longdistance Entrepreneur' 'Whatever Happened to Her Indoors' 'Three Cons Make a Mountain' 'Guess Who's Coming to Pinner' and 'A bird in the Hand is Worth Two in Shepherds Bush' Series 9 has two David Yallop scripts 'Cars and Pints and Pains' and Looking for Mr. Goodtime.
Television plays include: To Encourage the Others for BBC (SFTA Nominated) The Fruits of Philosophy for Granada They Ran Before the Wind for New Zealand TV Why Not? For ATV Monty Python in the Court of America for BBC Next Time Lucky - BBC Play for Today Are you in the Business for ATV Voices in my Ear for Limehouse Productions Young Man in a Hurry for LWT My Learned Friend for BBC The Marchioness Disaster for Granada/Yorkshire TV.
Television series as well as Minder already listed include:- Crown Court 12 x 3 plays for Granada Orlando - of which he was the Series Creator Eastenders - 105 storylines for BBC An Independent Man - Series Creator and Sole writer - for ITV.
Television Comedy - David has written lot but remembers the following titles. Frost on Sunday for LWT Barker & Corbett for LWT That was the Week that Was for BBC Out of the Trees - co-writer with Graham Chapman for Monty Python French Without Tears for Canadian Broadcasting.
His one Stage Play was 'In Search of a Man' which his great friend Director Alan Clarke asked him to write. It was directed by Alan Clarke for the Questors.
David still does some writing and is just now getting together short pieces he has written for magazines to be published as a collection soon.
