Tom Webster

Tom Webster was born in 1931, and was educated at Sheffield City Grammar School. Before he could start his career, National Service intervened. In his youth, he was a promising sportsman, with several trials at professional football clubs. However, his destiny was in teaching. After training in Sheffield, he taught in the West Riding before becoming a headteacher at a rural school in Lincolnshire. He settled down to a headship in Newark, where he stayed, until retirement in 1989. Tom had always...See more

Tom Webster was born in 1931, and was educated at Sheffield City Grammar School. Before he could start his career, National Service intervened. In his youth, he was a promising sportsman, with several trials at professional football clubs. However, his destiny was in teaching. After training in Sheffield, he taught in the West Riding before becoming a headteacher at a rural school in Lincolnshire. He settled down to a headship in Newark, where he stayed, until retirement in 1989. Tom had always written stories, but a friend suggested that he tried his hand at a radio play, and he sent his first one to the BBC. The second play he submitted was broadcast, and a successful writing career was launched. Tom's first play was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1973. He went on to have twenty-eight plays produced in total, on Afternoon Theatre and the prestigious Saturday Night Theatre. He also wrote under the name David Bannister - writing plays in a wide variety of genres and settings. They were broadcast on the BBC World Service and in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Malta, and several of his plays were translated for radio stations in Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Following retirement from teaching, Tom lived in Bath, York and Kirkbymoorside in North Yorkshire, finally returning to his home town of Sheffield. He continued to write plays, and light humorous subversive pieces for the Times Educational Supplement. Eventually, Tom started to write his first novel 'Send in the Clown', drawing on his love of the North Yorkshire coast. He enjoys playing golf and a good glass of wine. See less