Richard Collier (1924–1996) was an English journalist, military historian and novelist.

Life

Born in Croydon, Collier joined the RAF in 1942 and was War Associate Editor of Lord Mountbatten's magazine Phoenix: An Allied Magazine for All Allied Forces in South East Asia. After the war, he joined the Daily Mail as a feature writer.[1]

For his 1971 biography of Mussolini, Collier employed three administrative assistants to coordinate the work of 30 research assistants and eight translators. The book's New York Times reviewer found the book uncritical but easy to read and entertaining.[2]

Collier's 1974 The Plague of the Spanish Lady was the first book-length treatment of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918–19.[3] For the book Collier advertised around the world, asking for memories and eye-witness accounts. The correspondence which he collected is now held by the Imperial War Museum.[4]

Works

Novels

Non-fiction

References

  1. ^ Richard Collier, historian and novelist, Curtis Brown.
  2. ^ A breezy sketch of the first Fascist dictator, New York Times, November 21, 1971.
  3. ^ Ilaria Gorini et al, Spanish flu ended a century ago: references in historiography and art, Medicina Historica, Vol. 3, No. 2 (2019), pp.78-82.
  4. ^ Remembering the Spanish Flu, Arts and Humanities Research Council. Accessed 9 January 2020.
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