David Arscott
{{Short description|British author and local historian (1942–2024)}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = David Arscott
| embed =
| honorific_prefix =
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = David Arscott
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1942|12|09}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2024|11|29|1942|12|09}}
| death_place = Lewes, East Sussex, England
| resting_place =
| occupation = Author, local historian, publisher
| nationality = British
| ethnicity =
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater = Hertford College, Oxford
| period =
| genre =
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| relatives =
| awards =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| years_active =
| module =
| website =
| portaldisp =
}}
David John Arscott (9 December 1942 – 29 November 2024) was a British author, local historian and publisher from Sussex.
Arscott wrote more than 40 books about Sussex, as well as several volumes of the Salariya Book Company's Very Peculiar History series{{cite web|title=Salariya: David Arscott|url=https://salariya.com/products?search_api_views_fulltext=David%20Arscott|publisher=Salariya Book Company|accessdate=12 September 2016}}{{dead link|date=December 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} and a number of works of fiction. His 1984 novel The Frozen City has been translated into Japanese.{{cite web|title=David Arscott|url=http://ameqlist.com/sfa/arscott.htm|publisher=ameqlist.com|accessdate=16 September 2016}} His first venture into political satire, Lady Thatcher's Wink, was published in 2016.{{cite web|title=Pomegranate Press – Fiction, Poetry and Plays|url=http://www.pomegranate-press.co.uk/fiction/index.html|publisher=pomegranate-press.co.uk|accessdate=12 September 2016}} As an author, his books are largely held in libraries worldwide.{{Cite web |url=https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n85148938/ |title=Arscott, David |publisher=worldcat.org |accessdate=17 September 2016}}
Arscott worked as a journalist from 1959, first with the Investors Chronicle and the Evening Standard in London and then for the English language paper The Daily Journal in Caracas, Venezuela. Returning to England, he reported for the Dorset Evening Echo.{{cite book|last1=Arscott|first1=David|title=A little book of Arscotts|date=2012|publisher=Pomegranate Press|location=Lewes, East Sussex|isbn=978-1-907242-39-7}} After taking an English degree at Hertford College, Oxford,{{cite web|title=News From Old Members|url=https://www.hertford.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/publications/HC%20magazine%2094%20(2014)_ws.pdf|website=The Hertford College Magazine|accessdate=12 September 2016}} he joined BBC Radio Brighton as a news producer, switching to general programme production and presentation shortly before the station expanded to become BBC Radio Sussex.{{cite web|last1=White|first1=Tim|title=Author David Arscott|url=http://www.battle-abbey.co.uk/_New_Site/Hastings/localauthors009x.htm|publisher=battle-abbey.co.uk|accessdate=12 September 2016}}
His publishing company, Pomegranate Press, founded in 1992, offered a self-publishing service to other authors. It initially specialised in books with a Sussex theme but later expanded to include the Pomegranate Practicals nutshell guides, fiction and a range of non-fiction titles.{{cite web|title=Pomegranate Press – Lewes publisher of Sussex authors and self-publication specialists|url=http://www.pomegranate-press.co.uk|publisher=pomegranate-press.co.uk|accessdate=12 September 2016}}
He was also involved in media training with Curtin and Co, working with colleagues in the UK and abroad to coach individuals and groups in improving their skills in front of the microphone and the camera.{{cite web|title=Our People|url=http://crisis-comms.com/our-people/|publisher=crisis-comms.com|accessdate=13 September 2016}}
Arscott lived in Lewes.{{cite web|title=Pomegranate Press – Lewes publisher of Sussex authors and self-publication specialists|url=http://www.pomegranate-press.co.uk|publisher=pomegranate-press.co.uk|accessdate=15 September 2016}} He died there on 29 November 2024, at the age of 81.{{cite web |title=David John Arscott |url=https://www.cpjfield.co.uk/services/458899 |website=C. P. J. Field |access-date=19 December 2024}}{{cite web |title=David Arscott |url=https://www.legacy.com/uk/obituaries/sussexworld-uk/name/david-arscott-obituary?id=57001662 |website=Legacy |access-date=19 December 2024}}
Bibliography
= Sussex books =
Hidden Sussex (with Warden Swinfen) (BBC Radio Sussex) 1984
People of Hidden Sussex (with Warden Swinfen)(BBC Radio Sussex) 1985
Hidden Sussex Day by Day (with Warden Swinfen) (BBC Radio Sussex) 1987{{cite web|title=Sussex scrapbook|url=http://www.sussexlife.co.uk/people/sussex_scrapbook_1_1641491|website=Sussex Life|accessdate=18 September 2016}}
Hidden Sussex The Towns (with Warden Swinfen) (BBC Radio Sussex) 1990{{cite web|title=Hidden Sussex – the Towns, Warden Swinfen and David Arscott, Book review|url=http://www.westsussex.info/book-review-hidden-sussex-the-towns.shtml|website=westsussex.info|accessdate=18 September 2016}}
Explore Sussex (Countryside Books) 1986
The Sussex Story (Pomegranate Press) 1992
Living Sussex (Pomegranate Press) 1994
Curiosities of East Sussex (SB Publications) 1991
Hastings and the 1066 Country (SB Publications) 1993
Curiosities of West Sussex (SB Publications) 1993
A Sussex Quiz Book (SB Publications) 1993
Tales from the Parish Pump (SB Publications) 1994
Sussex, the County in Colour (Dovecote Press) 1995
A Second Sussex Quiz Book (SB Publications) 1995
Dead and Buried in Sussex (SB Publications) 1997
Sussex Privies (Countryside Books) 1998
What the Vicar Saw (Pomegranate Press) 1999
The Sussex Millennium Book (Pomegranate Press) 1999
The Sussex Gardens Book (Pomegranate Press) 2000
A Century of Brighton & Hove (Sutton Publishing) 2000
Eastbourne Past & Present (Sutton Publishing) 2001
Horsham Past & Present (Sutton Publishing) 2002
Brighton in the News (Sutton Publishing) 2002
Amberley Castle (Dovecote Press) 2002
A Century of Eastbourne (Sutton Publishing) 2002
Chailey Heritage (SB Publications) 2003
East Sussex Events (Phillimore) 2003
The Sussex Bedside Book (Dovecote Press) 2003
Our Lewes (Sutton Publishing) 2004
Sussex: a Colour Portrait (Countryside Books 2004
Lewes Then & Now vol. 2 (with Bill Young) (SB Publications) 2004
The Neat & Nippy Guide to Lewes (SB Publications) 2006
Wunt be Druv: a salute to the Sussex dialect (Countryside Books) 2006
A Sussex Kipling (Pomegranate Press) 2007
A Tour Along the Sussex Coast (Snake River Press) 2008{{cite web|title=A Tour Along the Sussex Coast by David Arscott {{!}} Review by West Sussex.info|url=http://www.westsussex.info/book-review-tour-along-sussex-coast.shtml|website=www.westsussex.info|accessdate=18 September 2016}}{{cite web|title=A Tour Along the Sussex Coast {{!}} Sussex Books, Books About Sussex, Sussex Guides {{!}} Snake River Press|url=http://www.snakeriverpress.co.uk/product/?pid=14525|website=www.snakeriverpress.co.uk|accessdate=18 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328063808/http://www.snakeriverpress.co.uk/product/?pid=14525|archive-date=28 March 2013|url-status=dead}}
Brighton: a Very Peculiar History (Salariya) 2009{{cite web|title=Royal romance|url=http://www.theargus.co.uk/magazine/nostalgia/pastpresent/4741437.Royal_romance/|website=The Argus|date=21 November 2009 |accessdate=18 September 2016}}{{cite web|title=Brighton Books|url=http://www.brightonvisitor.com/brighton-news/brighton-books/|website=Brighton Visitor|accessdate=18 September 2016|date=30 October 2010}}
The Sussex Pub Quiz Book (Pomegranate Press) 2010
The Little Book of Sussex (History Press) 2011{{cite web|title=Sussex Past|url=https://sussexpast.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SPP125Dec2011.Webv2_1.pdf|website=Sussex Past and Present|accessdate=18 September 2016}}{{cite web|title=Ancestors who gave us our very own lingo|url=http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/nostalgia/ancestors-who-gave-us-our-very-own-lingo-1-5484520|publisher=sussexexpress.co.uk|accessdate=18 September 2016}}
Horsham Then & Now (History Press) 2011
Floreat Lewys: 500 Years of Lewes Old Grammar School (Pomegranate Press) 2012{{cite web|title=Ex pupil creates coat of arms to mark Lewes Old Grammar School's 500th year|url=http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/county-news/ex-pupil-creates-coat-of-arms-to-mark-lewes-old-grammar-school-s-500th-year-1-4594456|publisher=sussexexpress.co.uk|accessdate=18 September 2016}}{{cite web|title=500 years of cane and brain|url=http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/nostalgia/500-years-of-cane-and-brain-1-4815429|publisher=sussexexpress.co.uk|accessdate=18 September 2016}}
Brighton, a Very Peculiar History Quiz Book (Salariya) 2012
= Very Peculiar Histories (Salariya) =
The Blitz, 2009
Rations, 2010
60 Years a Queen, 2011{{cite web|title=Queen Elizabeth II, A Very Peculiar History|url=https://www.overdrive.com/media/718076/queen-elizabeth-ii-a-very-peculiar-history|website=OverDrive|accessdate=18 September 2016}}
Golf, 2011
Sex, 2012
England vol. I, 2013
Oxford, 2013
Wine, 2015
= Fiction =
The Frozen City (with David Marl) (Allen & Unwin) 1984{{cite book|last1=Langford|first1=David|title=The complete critical assembly : the collected White dwarf (and GM, and GMI) SF review columns|date=2002|publisher=Cosmos Books|location=Holicong, PA|isbn=1-58715-330-0|pages=83–84}}
A Flight of Bright Birds (with David Marl) (Allen & Unwin) 1985
Cultic Cyphers from Celtic Cyprus (7,5) (Pomegranate Press) 2002
Maracas in Caracas: short stories from England and the Americas (Pomegranate Press) 2005
Boyhunt (with David Marl) (Pomegranate Press) 2006
The Eye and the Blade Trilogy (with David Marl) (The Frozen City, A Flight of Bright Birds, Shadows in Crimson Colours) (Pomegranate Press) 2009
Lady Thatcher’s Wink (Pomegranate Press) 2016{{cite web|last1=Baker|first1=Norman|title=Book Review: Lady Thatcher's Wink|url=http://www.vivabrighton.com/viva-lewes|website=Viva Magazines|accessdate=28 September 2016}}
= Other =
Agelines: change, challenge and choice in an ageing society (BBC Radio Sussex) 1987
The Upstart Gardener (Lindel Organisation) 1988
The Stream Garden (with Archie Skinner) (Ward Lock) 1996
Good English: how to speak it and to write it (Pomegranate Press) 1997
Headline: a beginner’s guide to mastering the media (Pomegranate Press) 1998
Good Essays: how to plan them and to write them (with Ann Varley) (Pomegranate Press) 1999
Self Publish: how to create and market your own book (Pomegranate Press) 2004)
A Little Book of Arscotts (Pomegranate Press) 2012
Who’s Afraid of Spelling? (Salariya) 2014
Who’s Afraid of Clear English? (Salariya) 2014
References
{{reflist|30em}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arscott, David}}
Category:20th-century British writers