The Mystery of Audrey Lucas

[Porto51]

Dear all,

Thanks for inviting me in. I am researching the work of Audrey Lucas and her stage/play/novels and then her in the late 1920's, the thirties and BBC forties work up to 1943. There is some work noted after 1945, book reviews etc but not a lot. The BBC archives might lead to more.

In her day c.1927-1939 Audrey Lucas was a literary figure and a player in the London cultural and creative drama scene, and this should more recognised, except it is not.

I am aware of:

(a) The JMB connection:

(b) The Waugh connection, so I have been in touch there and:

(c) Her theatre background through two marraiges to Harold Scott and then DA Clarke Smith - both fine actors with long careers into the l950s and 1960s.

I am aware I might be walking on a few hot family coals and apologies in advance. EV Lucas of course wrote lot's of stuff and it is in Durham University. Audrey seems to have left nothing re her books and plays.

So any lines of enquiry would be welcome.

Many thanks

Prof Terry Rodgers

[Sara72]

Dear Professor Rodgers,

I too have been very interested in Audrey Lucas. Did you read her biography of her father, E. V. Lucas? It is readily available online and includes photos. She also worked for the BBC later in life, and so that might be worth an enquiry like you said. She volunteered with the Red Cross in France in World War I with her mother, Elizabeth Lucas, in the hospital that JM Barrie helped establish there and her father also supported, I believe.

Elizabeth Lucas' letters are held at Beinecke Library of Yale University and so may be worth checking out.

E. V. Lucas was a member of various clubs in London, and of course the editor of Methuen Publishing, and a contributor to Punch. So those might hold clues as well.

Have you published your work on Audrey Lucas anywhere? I'd be curious to read it.