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Archie Hill (born 1926, died 1989) was a writer and broadcaster who came from the English Black Country, a region which provided the central theme for his work. His writing included acclaimed autobiographical books as well novels, radio plays, television scripts and journalism. The pinnacle of his broadcasting career was a four-part 19xx BBC TV series called Archie Hill Comes Home.

He was described by writer Michael Pearson as "…hugely talented … very rough Black Country with a lived-in face. An alcoholic with suicidal tendencies, he was said to be programmed to self-destruct, but always had a smile and a twinkle in his eye."

He died by suicide in 1989.

=Life=

Childhood
Hill was born and raised near to Kinver, on the edge of the Black Country, the eldest but one of eleven children. His family lived in impoverished working-class conditions and his father was a abusive alcoholic. These circumstances led to Hill leading a troubled childhood and turning for comfort and guidance and friendship to friends of his father's, poachers he called Konk and Pope Tolley who taught him a great deal of country lore.

Hill's attendance at school was sporadic though he did attend Art College around the age of fifteen.

Early adult life
At sixteen, Hill left Art College and started working on canal barges. At age eighteen, he entered the RAF where he was to serve for six years, the first four in the Middle East and then as a member of the Military Police. During this period he developed a chronic dependence on alcohol.

After his military service ended relocated to Herefordshire and joined the Police Force. This was short-lived as his alcoholism made it impossible for him to fulfil his duties. During this period he also has a brief marriage which ended due to his abusive behaviour. Unable to work and short of money, he stole from gas metres. He was picked in the street suffering from alcohol poisoning and spent a period in a mental hospital. Some time after release he was arrested and was imprisoned for theft. In prison he met the physicist and spy, Klaus Fuchs who introduced him to classical music and the arts generally.

After being discharged from prison, he lived rough for a time eventually finding the resolve to overcome his dependence on drink and live a more stable life.

Life as a writer
Following the seminal meeting with Fuchs, Hill resolved to reform his life and overcome his alcohol addiction. He started office work and then joined the Sunday People working on the Readers Advice Bureau for four years. During this period he married for the second time and become a father.

His writing experience with The Sunday People led him to adopting the profession freelance writer, specialising in radio scripts and also writing one story for the popular police drama, Z-Cars. His major breakthrough as a writer came with the publication of his first book, A Cage of Shadows, dealing with his life until the time he left prison. The book revealed his talent for honest and unsentimental narrative and led to the most successful period of his career.

Over the next eleven years he wrote a further ten books, made many radio broadcasts as well presenting as a TV series.

Later life and death
An Empty Glass (1984) deals records that that the problems with alcohol has resurfaced and his second marriage had ended after twenty years. It was the last of Hill's known written output and he then disappeared from public life. It has been his ongoing alcoholism and the emotional strain of producing his autobiographical work had left him without the necessary inner resources to continue his writing career.

He died by suicide in 1989.

=Writings=

Early work
Hill's time with the People taught him the rudiments of professional writing and gave him the confidence to embark on a freelance career. Most of his income came from magazine articles and radio scripts.

A cage of shadows - 1973
This book covered Hill's life up to the early 1950's. It deals in unsparing details with the family problem caused by his father's abusive behavior as well as Hill's own difficulties in early life. It includes unsentimental descriptions of the nature of working-class Black Country life during the depression and portraits of his adult friends Konk and Pope Tolley.

The original text included material about hill's mother which she considered defamatory. She successfully sued for libel and the book was reissued with an apology from Hill included and most references to his mother omitted.

One reviewer said that "There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that here is an author can write not only well but at many times brilliantly, and who can and does put over his feelings and thoughts with a salty inventiveness and lack of self-pity or sentimentality"

Summer's End - 1976
This book grew out of the filming for 'Archie hill Comes Homes' when Hill returned to the Black Country to seek out people and places he had known in his early life. It provides more autobiographical stories from his youth, though told with a slightly mellower and more humorous tone than his earlier book. The title refers not just to the passing of the happier days of Hill's own youth but the end of the Black Country's prosperity as industry dies out in the area.

Closed World of Love - 1976
This 110 page book focused on the life and being of Hill's wife's disabled son Barry who lived a severely restricted life being entirely wheelchair bound and unable to speak. Hill describes how he is able to learn from his step-son by imaginatively putting himself in his place.

The book won the 1977 Christopher Award. In reviewing the book, Tony Parker in the Sunday Times described Hill as "… one of the most sensitive contemporary autobiographical writers we have".

The Second Meadow 1982
Following three fictional works, Hill returned to his own life for his eighth book. He recounts the three months he spent living of the land on a remote country estate, making use of his poaching skills to kill animals for food. The title refers to his observation that only brave animals venture to the meadows far from the safety of the woods and his own resolve to seek out the equivalent places in his own life.

An empty glass 1984
This book deals with Hill's experience as an alcoholic and his efforts to overcome the disorder.

Novels

 * A corridor of mirrors 1975
 * Sergeant Sahib 1979
 * Prison Bars 1980
 * Dark pastures 1981 juvenile fiction

=Broadcasting=

The success of his autobiographical books gave Hill the opportunity to embark on a parallel broadcasting career.

His radio work included The Second Meadow an adaptation of his book of he same name. He also was included in discussion programmes dealing with themes that were predominant in his writing such as poaching and the industrial West Midlands.

His 4-part TV Series, 'Archie Hill Comes Home' was broadcast in 1974. The films were:


 * Episode 1 - The Living Legend was about his return to the Black Country.
 * Episode 2 - Up with the Workers - looked into a Black Country-man's working day and included visits to a foundry, a century-old metal workshop, a modern cycle factory and finally Hill does a day's stint with a blacksmith.
 * Episode 3 - Sweat of the Brow - continued the industrial theme with visits to a brick-yard and to a crystal glass factory.
 * Episode 4 - Come Saturday - focused on leisure activities such as pigeon racing, whippets, bare-fisted fighting and a pub-night.