Nigel Marlin Balchin (3 December 1908 – 17 May 1970) was an English psychologist and author, particularly known for his novels written during and immediately after World War II: Darkness Falls from the Air, The Small Back Room and Mine Own Executioner.
Life
Balchin was born on 3 December 1908 in Potterne, Wiltshire, but his sudden decision in 1887 to cease work on his farm had a negative impact on the Balchin family's subsequent finances.
At the age of eighteen months, Balchin knocked over a kettle of scalding water, and was so badly burned that he was not expected to survive. He was educated at Dauntsey's School and Peterhouse, Cambridge, and, he claimed, responsible for the success of the company's Aero and Kit Kat brands.
Family
thumb|The grave of Nigel Balchin, Hampstead Cemetery, London
Balchin was married twice.
Firstly, on 21 January 1933 at Chelsea, to Elisabeth Evelyn Walshe, daughter of the novelist Douglas Walshe, whom he had met at Cambridge where she was reading English, archaeology and anthropology at Newnham. Their children were:
- Prudence Ann Balchin (1934–2004), who married Z-Cars scriptwriter John Hopkins (1931–1998) and ran a zoo for many years.
- Penelope Jane Balchin (born 1937), better known as childcare expert Dr Penelope Leach, who married the science journalist Gerald Leach (1933–2004).
- Freja Mary Balchin (born 1944), who became the first female president of Cambridge University's theatre group and married Professor Richard Gregory (1923–2010), a psychologist.
His first marriage broke up following a partner-swapping arrangement between the Balchins, the artist Michael Ayrton and the latter's partner Joan. Elisabeth also had an affair with the composer Christian Darnton. Balchin divorced Elisabeth in 1951 and she married Ayrton a year later. They had two children:
- Charles Zoran Marlin Balchin (born 1955), who held senior roles at the BBC, Sky Sports and various overseas broadcasters.
- Cassandra Marlin Balchin (1962–2012), an authority on women's rights under Islamic law.
He died on 17 May 1970 at a nursing home in Hampstead, London,
|1 =1. Nigel Marlin Balchin (1908-70)
|2 =2. William Edwin (Willie) Balchin (1872-1968)
|3 =3. Ada Elizabeth Curtis (1870-1939)
|4 =4. George Marlin Balchin (1830-96)
|5 =5. Sarah Anne Puttock (1833-1917)
|6 =6. William Curtis (1842-1916)
|7 =7. Elizabeth Harriett Piper (1839-1877)
|8 =8. Henry Balchin (1797-1874)
|9 =9. Sarah Butcher (1797-1872)
|10=10. James Puttock (1805-76)
|11=11. Ann Child (1804-)
|12=12. Henry Curtis (1813-95)
|13=13. Elizabeth Spencer (1811-55)
|14=14. John Piper (1818-)
|15=15. Harriett Whately (1818-)
|16=16. Uriah Balchin (1749-1810)
|17=17. Sarah Frost (1758-1842)
|18=18. John Butcher (1766-)
|19=19. Sarah Joyes
|20=20. James Puttock (1764-1849)
|21=21. Leah Ede (1779-1828)
|22=22. Thomas Child (1768-)
|23=23. Sarah Cheasmar (1767-)
|24=24. James Curtis (1777-)
|25=25. Elizabeth
|26=26. Thomas Spencer (1786-)
|27=27. Elizabeth
|28=28. Samuel Piper (1778-1841)
|29=29. Charity Brook (1773-1850)
|30=30. Thomas Whately (1796-)
|31=31. Harriet Dowell (1798-)
Writing
Balchin wrote articles for Punch and The Aeroplane magazine, and published three non-fiction books as Mark Spade.
He also wrote novels under his own name, and enjoyed great popular success for a time. Darkness Falls from the Air is set during the London Blitz and was written while the bombing was still in progress. The Small Back Room became a Powell and Pressburger film of the same title. A Way Through the Wood was adapted as a stage play, Waiting for Gillian, and as the 2005 film Separate Lies, which marked the directorial debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes. Other critically acclaimed Balchin novels include A Sort of Traitors, Sundry Creditors, The Fall of the Sparrow and Seen Dimly before Dawn.
As a screenwriter he worked on an early draft of Cleopatra but is principally remembered for The Man Who Never Was, for which he won the 1957 BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay, and Mandy, the story of a deaf child. He also wrote the screenplay for The Singer Not the Song and adapted two of his own novels for the screen.