Patrick Skene Catling

Patrick Skene Catling
Catling in 2014
Born(1925-02-14)14 February 1925
London, England
Died9 January 2026(2026-01-09) (aged 100)
Bantry, County Cork, Ireland
OccupationWriter, journalist, book reviewer
NationalityBritish
EducationOberlin College
SpouseSusan Barnes Watson (1949–1960)
Diane Wheeler Nicholson (1964–1984)
ChildrenCharlotte Skene-Catling and 3 others

Patrick Skene Catling (14 February 1925 – 9 January 2026) was a British journalist, author and book reviewer, best known for writing The Chocolate Touch in 1952.[1] He wrote 12 novels, three works of non-fiction and nine books for children.

Background

Catling was born in London, England on 14 February 1925.[2] He was schooled there, before attending Oberlin College in the United States. Catling served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a navigator and as a journalist at The Baltimore Sun[3] and The Manchester Guardian.

He travelled extensively. Catling continued writing books in his later years, and provided reviews for The Spectator, The Telegraph, and other publications.[4][5] He later lived in Reenacoppul in the Republic of Ireland.[1] Catling died in Bantry, County Cork, Ireland on 9 January 2026, at the age of 100.[6]

Career

His first publication of The Chocolate Touch in 1952 received enthusiastic responses from several reviewers. Catling has since written dozens of books, and has developed the popular The Chocolate Touch character John Midas into the children's book series: John Midas in the Dreamtime (1986), John Midas and the Vampires (1994), John Midas and the Radio Touch (1994), and John Midas and the Rock Star (1995). Of John Midas in the Dreamtime, School Library Journal wrote, "...children who have been dragged around tourist sights will relate to John's boredom".[7]

Selected works

Novels

  • Tourist Attraction[8] (Macmillan, 1963)
  • The Experiment[9] (Anthony Blond, 1968)
  • The Exterminator[10] (The Bodley Head, 1969)
  • Freddy Hill: The Story of a Modern Man of Pleasure[11] (The Bodley Head, 1969)
  • The Catalogue[12] (The Bodley Head, 1970)
  • The Surrogate (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1972)
  • Best Summer Job[13] (Simon & Schuster, 1974)
  • Secret Ingredients (Hart-Davis McGibbon, 1976)
  • Bliss Incorporated (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976)
  • Freddy Hill in Las Vegas (Panther, 1979)
  • Jazz, Jazz, Jazz[14] (Blond and Briggs, 1980)
  • Murder Becomes Electra: A Love Story (Somerville Press, 2018)

Children's books

  • The Chocolate Touch[15] (Morrow, 1957)
  • John Midas in the Dreamtime[16] (Morrow, 1986)
  • The Orphan and the Billionaire (Methuen Young Books, 1990)
  • Eskimo Surprise[17] (Mammoth, 1993)
  • John Midas and the Radio Touch[18] (Methuen Young Books, 1993)
  • A Trunkful of Tricks[19] (Heinemann Young Books, 1994)
  • John Midas and the Vampires[20] (Mammoth, 1994)
  • John Midas and the Rock Star[21] (Egmont Children's Books, 1995)
  • Chocolate Magic[22] (Mammoth, 2000)

Non-fiction

  • Better Than Working[23] (Faber & Faber, 1960)
  • The Right End of the Stick (Faber & Faber, 1963)
  • The Joy of Freeloading (Bloomsbury, 1990)
  • Harassment: Memoirs of a Sex Object (Bloomsbury, 1993)

Journalism

  • "Rich pickings". The Spectator. 311 (9446): 34, 36. 12 September 2009. Archived from the original on 1 December 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2011. Review of Gardam, Jane (2009). The man in the wooden hat. Chatto. ISBN 978-0-7011-7798-0.

References

  1. ^ a b "Patrick Skene Catling bio". HarperCollins website. Retrieved 21 January 2009.
  2. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (2006). Better Than Working. Liberties Press. p. 11. ISBN 9781905483068.
  3. ^ Better Than Working by Patrick Skene Catling. New York: Macmillan. 1960. Also: The Baltimore Sun 1837-1987 by Harold A. Williams. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1987. p.335-336
  4. ^ "list of Patrick Skene Catling reviews". The Spectator. Retrieved 21 January 2009.
  5. ^ "Reasons to be paranoid". The Daily Telegraph. 3 July 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2009.
  6. ^ "Patrick Skene Catling, author and critic, dies aged 100". The Irish Times. 16 January 2026. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
  7. ^ "review of John Midas of The Chocolate Touch". School Library Journal. Retrieved 21 January 2009.
  8. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (1970) [1963]. Tourist Attraction. Macmillan, London. pp. 185, 220, 175. ISBN 9780722121740.
  9. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (1968). The Experiment. p. 317.
  10. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (1969). The Exterminator. Bodley Head. p. 252. ISBN 9780370006550.
  11. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (1969). Freddy Hill: The Story of a Modern Man of Pleasure. Bodley Head. p. 220. ISBN 9780370014128.
  12. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (1972). The Catalogue. HarperCollins. p. 203. ISBN 9780586035894.
  13. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (1974). Best Summer Job. Simon & Schuster. p. 283. ISBN 9780671217532.
  14. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (1981). Jazz, Jazz, Jazz. Fiction. St Martins Press. pp. 320. ISBN 9780312440732. Patrick Skene Catling.
  15. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene; Margot Apple (1979). The Chocolate Touch. Juvenile Fiction. HarperCollins. p. 128. ISBN 9780688321871.
  16. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (1986). John Midas in the Dreamtime. Juvenile Fiction. Morrow. pp. 119. ISBN 9780688321871. Patrick Skene Catling.
  17. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene; Mark Foreman (1993). Eskimo Surprise. Juvenile Fiction. Heinemann. p. 42. ISBN 9780434962655.
  18. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (1994). John Midas and the Radio Touch. Mammoth. p. 109. ISBN 9780749717681.
  19. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene; Mark Foreman (1994). A Trunkful of Tricks. Heinemann. p. 48. ISBN 9780434978236.
  20. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene; Tony Ross (1994). John Midas and the Vampires. Children's. Methuen. p. 111. ISBN 9780416189179.
  21. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene; Tony Ross (1995). John Midas and the Rock Star. Methuen. p. 90. ISBN 9780416191240.
  22. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene; Philip Hopman (2000). Chocolate Magic. Girls. Mammoth. p. 96. ISBN 9780749742119.
  23. ^ Catling, Patrick Skene (2004) [1960]. Better Than Working. Journalists. Macmillan, Secker & Warburg. pp. 212, 356. ISBN 9780436206245.
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