EDWARD, KNOWN AS TED, LEWIS (1940 – 1982) CRAMMED INTO HIS SHORT BUT EVENTFUL LIFE THE AUTHORSHIP OF NINE NOVELS. His writing career was intertwined with a substantial

output as a graphic artist along with playing the

‘trad jazz’ piano, most notably with the Hull-based

Unity Jazz Band.

Lewis’ best-known book was Jack’s Return Home

which was published as Get Carter. The book

was in the ‘hard-boiled’ style (a type of writing that

developed in America in the 1920s) and was a

contributor to the revival of British Noir crime fiction.

TED LEWIS: NOVELIST, ARTIST AND JAZZ MUSICIAN

Ted Lewis on the set of Get Carter, 1970.

The Ted Lewis Group, a

not-for-profit community

group which seeks to

promote Lewis’ work, has

collaborated with East

Riding Museums Service

to produce this exhibition.

Get Carter exposed a hitherto unseen world of

sexual seediness, violence, police corruption and

major organised crime. The film version, starring

Michael Caine, remains critically acclaimed as one

of the best of its kind ever made.

SOUTH SIDE OF THE HUMBER:A LASTING INFLUENCEAmerican Culture

Born in Manchester, Lewis moved at the age of six

to the small market town of Barton upon Humber.

His childhood was influenced by regular visits to

the cinema, with films such as Shack Out on 101

feeding a hunger for adventure and dark subjects.

Lewis was also influenced by American comics

which he copied to develop his own graphic style.

Ted Lewis (centre front row) at Barton County Primary School, 1940s.

Contemporary photograph of the remnants of Adamant Cement Works or ‘The Old Cements’ as it was known to Ted and his friends.

Hometown

As well as popular mass media, the Humber

landscape itself proved a lasting influence. Barton

had once been a town with buoyant cement, tile

and rope making industries, but by the 1950s it was

entering a period of decline.

With his boyhood pals ‘The Riverbank Boys’,

Lewis explored the surrounding countryside and

abandoned remnants of south bank industries. This

brooding landscape would later provide inspiration

for his novels, most notably as the backdrop for Jack

Carter’s end of life struggle in Get Carter.

HULL AND EAST YORKSHIRE: SPREADING HIS WINGS

Extracts from Lewis’ first novel All the Way home and All the Night Through, 1965

Lewis’ inspirational English teacher Henry Treece (1911 to 1966).

As well as teaching, Treece was a prolific and established writer, most notably of children’s historical novels.

Lewis’ band often played at ‘Riverboat Shuffle’ jazz evenings on the Humber ferries.

Across the Humber

As a child, Lewis spent many hours gazing out of

the window of his riverside bedroom towards the

suburbs of East Yorkshire and the ‘big city’ of Hull.

These contrasting locations, which at the time could

only be reached by ferry, would provide lasting

inspiration for his novels.

Art Student Days

After studying at Barton Grammar School, Lewis

enrolled, age 16, at Hull School of Arts and Crafts

where he stayed for four years. His decision to stay

in education was shaped by his English teacher and

later mentor Henry Treece, who spotted in the young

Lewis an innate creativity.

During his time in Hull, at first commuting from

Barton and later staying in ‘digs’, Lewis lived up

to the reputation of the 1950s art school student:

copious drinking, girls, late night cinema and

smoky clubs.

Unity Jazz Band

Whilst in Hull, Lewis’ passion for jazz blossomed.

His gregarious personality and ‘have a go’ attitude

meant that he soon started playing the piano with

the Hull-based Unity Jazz Band. The pubs and

clubs of Hull and East Yorkshire where the band

performed would later provide rich source material

for his writing.

A poster advertising the Unity Jazz Band.

Albert pub, powder blue gabardine

suit pub, double-breasted... twenty

inch bottoms white open-necked

shirt pub. Hard pub.

The house [in Kirkella] stood back

about a hundred feet from the road.

My immediate reaction was to think:

This is where Frank Sinatra lives.

LONDON: GRAPHIC ARTS AND DEBUT NOVELLeaving Hull

In 1961, at the age of 21, Lewis graduated from

the Hull School of Art and Design as it had been

renamed. Keen to move away from his home area,

his first job was in Somerset producing graphics

for Westland Helicopters. Soon after, he moved

to London and for four years produced graphics

for magazines and books as a freelancer and in

salaried posts.

Sketching and Drawing

Although writing would become his main creative

outlet (and provider of finance) Lewis continued

to dip in and out of art and graphic design

throughout his life. Indeed, drawing and sketching

would provide a solace in his final years when his

dependency on alcohol started to take its toll.

First Novel

Although he had talent as a visual artist, Lewis’

creativity was sending him in another direction.

Whilst working in London, Lewis was writing his first

novel: All the Way Home and All the Night Through

which was published in 1965. The book drew

heavily on his burn-the-candle-at-both-ends art

student lifestyle and jaunts around Hull and

East Yorkshire with his band.

The novel received mixed reviews and had

disappointing sales, but it did introduce the semi-

autobiographical character of Victor Graves. Victor

was plagued by self-doubt and a slavery to drink

– personality traits that Lewis would develop in the

character of Jack Carter in Get Carter.

A 1964 children’s book illustrated by Ted during his time working in London as a graphic designer.

Sketches of Barton by Ted, 1970s.

A page from Ted’s diary from January 1964 and a first edition of his debut novel.

FILM WORK AND FAMILYMove to Sussex

After the limited success of All the Way Home and

All the Night Through it was clear that writing wasn’t

a reliable income. Lewis was however keen to

continue utilising his diverse creative talents. In 1965

he resigned from his job in advertising and in 1966

took up a post with Halas and Batchelor.

The company were based in Lewes and were one

of the country’s main producers of animated films,

most famously the Lone Ranger series. That same

year Lewis married Jo, a PA at an architecture

practice. The couple settled in Sussex and had two

daughters, Sally and Nancy.

Animation

Whilst at Halas and Batchelor Lewis worked on the

graphics for a short film called Dying for a Smoke

which can still be seen online. This was ironic as

Lewis was never seen without a cigarette hanging

out of his mouth! His success at the company led

him to secure a post with TVC (Television Cartoons

Ltd) as a clean-up supervisor on The Beatles’

ground breaking animated film Yellow Submarine.

Although he was enjoying his new career in film,

during this period Lewis continued to write.

Stills from the film Dying for a Smoke, 1967, which was made by Halas & Batchelor and produced by the Central Office of Information for the Ministry of Health. Licensed by CC.4.0.

Involvement with The Beatles animated film Yellow Submarine gave Lewis another application for his creative skills.

JACK’S RETURN HOME: REAL SUCCESSChildhood Inspiration

Lewis’ best-known novel was not published until

1970, five years after All the Way Home and All the

Night Through. Jack’s Return Home features criminal

enforcer, Jack Carter, who returns to his home in a

town which was based on and described by Lewis as

Scunthorpe. To the displeasure of gangster bosses,

Carter avenges the death of his innocent brother

whilst being pursued by local and London heavies.

After falling into a world shaped by sexual

exploitation, organised crime and murder, Jack

meets his end in a bleak, waterside factory. The

location is clearly inspired by boyhood explorations

of the Adamant Cement Works on the Humber

Estuary, or ‘The Old Cements’ as the boys called it.

Get Carter

With the help of an enthusiastic literary agent, Toby

Eady, before the book was published the film rights

were sold to Soho nightclub owner Michael Klinger

for £10,000. The film Get Carter, directed by Mike

Hodges, followed shortly. The choice of Michael

Caine to play Carter, who had recently found fame in

the film Alfie, made the film an instant success.

The book was republished as Get Carter in 1970.

On my right the boundary was a

long low kiln so old that its top

was totally covered with grass.

On the left, facing on to the river,

were the roofless shells of the

tileries, half their original

height due to natural decay and

the erosion of the local kids.

Extract from the final chapter of Jack’s Return Home.

Michael Caine features on the cover of this first edition of Get Carter published by Pan Books, 1971.

The cover of this printing of Jack’s Return Home by Doubleday, New York (1970) features Jack sitting on top of an old kiln.

Script for the film Get Carter.

THE RABBIT builds gradually and

subtly into an analysis of

sexual self-doubt and jealousy,

climaxing with some of the

most powerfully graphic

scenes of sexual

confrontation the

author has ever

made...

Boldt. Ray Boldt. A new character

to rank with Jack Carter. As

tough and ruthless as Jack.

As cynical, witty and sexy

as Jack. But there’s a

difference. Carter was a

villain; Boldt is a cop

– an American cop.

RETURN TO BARTON: NOVELS AND SCRIPTSMore Success

After the success of Jack’s Return Home, over the

next 15 years Lewis wrote a further seven novels.

The central character of his third novel Plender

(1971) is Brian Plender who is employed as a small

cog in a huge criminal enterprise known only as

The Movement. Jack Carter’s Law, a prequel to Get

Carter was published in 1974, around the time that

Lewis’ marriage was coming to an end.

Return to Barton

After the breakdown of his marriage, Lewis returned

to Barton where he wrote a further four novels.

The Rabbit (1975) drew on his childhood in Barton

and his college days, with challenging subjects

of workplace aggression and sexual exploitation

explored. Boldt (1976) took Lewis out of his comfort

zone with its American setting.

Z Cars and GBH

The eight years that Lewis spent in Barton before

his death were difficult times, both emotionally and

physically. However, writing three scripts for the hit

TV series Z Cars demonstrated another successful

application for his creativity whilst the book GBH

(1980), written during Lewis’ time in Barton, is

considered by many to be his best work. The

chapter headings in the book alternate between The

Smoke (a reference of course to London) and The

Sea (the Lincolnshire resort of Mablethorpe).

First editions of Plender and Jack Carter’s Law, both published by Michael Joseph, London.

First edition of GBH, Michael Joseph, London, 1980.

Extract from the flap copy of The Rabbit, 1975. Extract from the flap copy of Boldt, 1976.

TED LEWISTODAYFifty years after his debut novel was published,

Lewis’ books still have a popular following, with

four titles currently in print. The book Get Carter,

made popular in film, has secured Lewis’ name as a

significant contributor to the 1970s revival of British

Noir crime fiction.

The Ted Lewis Group aims to raise the profile of

Lewis’ work and to this end has held exhibitions

in Scunthorpe, Barton and Hull. Ted Lewis Trails

have been produced and a Ted Lewis Jazz Festival

promoted. Events have been staged as part of the

2017 Humber Mouth Festival, including an evening at

the Lairgate Hotel in Beverley, one of Lewis’ favourite

venues.

Ted Lewis: Novelist, Artist and Musician - Hard

or Soft Boiled is in its second edition with copies

available to loan in Hull, North Lincolnshire and East

Riding Libraries. A comprehensive website has been

developed www.tedlewis.co.uk

Noir novel writer, Nick Triplow, has now written the second biography of Ted Lewis, published in 2017.

Biography of Ted Lewis, by Monty Martin.

Derek Raymond (crime author) in the afterward to GBH, 1980.

This selection of international versions of Lewis’ books demonstrate the breadth of his appeal.  

He is an example of how

dangerous writing can be

when it is done properly, and

Ted Lewis’ writing proves he

never ran away from the page.

No – because with Ted Lewis,

the page was the battle.