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Frederick Joseph Thwaites (23 May 1908 – 13 August 1979) was an Australian novelist whose books sold over four million copies. He was best known for his first work ''The Broken Melody'', which was adapted into a 1938 film.〔('BOY'S AMBITION REALISED How 'Broken Melody' Was Written', ''The Courier-Mail (Brisbane)'', Tuesday 5 July 1938 p 10 )〕 ==Biography== Born in the inner Sydney suburb of Balmain, Thwaites left school at the age of 13 and originally worked in the clothing industry. He wrote ''The Broken Melody'' when he was 19; it was originally self-published but eventually became a best seller, selling 55,000 copies in Australia and 25,000 in England. In February 1933 Thwaites left for England to write screen scenarios for Elstree Studios. He spent several months there, and several months in Hollywood, attempting to sell his work to movie producers. Thwaites said on his return: I spent four months in Hollywood but had bad luck with my novels because of copyright laws. It is absolutely essential that after publication of a book in Australia and before three months has passed it has been copyrighted in Washingtin. I failed to do that, and I have no doubt it cost me the loss of the three pictures, for the picture folk only make pictures of stories that have been out twelve months on the American market and are protected, whereas my stories were open for any American publisher to copy without paying a cent. He later estimated this cost him £15,000. On his return to Australia in late 1933, Thwaites then toured the country looking for manuscripts to publish. In 1936 he founded his own publishing firm. F. J. Thwaites. In May 1937 Thwaites joined Adelaide radio station 5KA as production manager. During this time he met Jessica Harcourt, who became his wife. In 1938, Thwaites and his wife left for England via the Pacific Islands and Panama Canal, researching material for novels. They ended to stay in England for three years but World War II saw them return to Australia after by the end of 1939. Thwaites was one of the most popular Australian authors of the 1940s and 1950s, with many of his works being adapted for radio. In late 1954 Thwaites set up a company in England, Harcourt Press, to publish his books there. Thwaites was married to actor Jessica Harcourt from 1938 until his death and together they had two sons.〔(Blaber, Ron, 'Thwaites, Frederick Joseph (1908–1979)', ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', National Centre of Biography, Australian National University ) accessed 5 March 2012〕 Much of his work was set in the Riverina region. His great-grandfather was Frederick Jenkins, who started Buckinbong Station.〔 In the late 1960s Thwaites was financing and managing housing projects. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「F. J. Thwaites」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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