David Scott Daniell

[Len]

David Scott Daniell was born Albert Scott Daniell in 1906; he seems to have changed his name simply by personal choice, perhaps he saw Albert as being too old fashioned a name as a writer. For his children's books he also used the name Richard Bowood. After his service in the Royal Engineers during World War Two, he settled down to creating a career as a novelist, children's author – both fiction and non-fiction, playwright – mainly for radio, screenwriter and military historian.

For his children's books he possibly became best known for his Polly and Oliver series of historical novels. These started life as plays for BBC Radio Children's Hour, the theme music being the old tune “Pretty Polly Oliver”. The stories cover the adventures of the drummer boy Oliver Crowe and his cousin and occasional cross-dresser Polly Trott, the daughter of his sergeant, during the Napoleonic Wars and Daniell used his knowledge of military affairs to create a realistic background. For two of the books I have been unable to find any details of the plots: Polly and Oliver at Sea which I assume carries the action out to India as the American edition has the title The Rajah's Treasure, Polly and Oliver Besieged which I am guessing has a setting in either Italy or Spain, and Polly and Oliver Pursued.

Another series centred around an Italian boy known as Jiminy. The first novel is set in and around Naples, after that the action seems to have him travelling to other locations. Apart from By Jiminy, which was adapted into a TV series for the BBC and a movie for the Children's Film Foundation, I could find precious little information. By Jiminy was shifted from Naples to Malta in the film and was retitled Treasure in Malta.

Daniell's other children's novels varied between historical adventures and romances, a war-time adventure in Italy and a couple of contemporary thrillers for younger readers – written using the name Richard Bowood. The Polly and Oliver books are worth a re-read if only to appreciate a writer in the 1950s daring to give a female character an important role in adventures stories, and Sandro's Battle, while being a little far fetched in what a young boy can achieve when faced with the Wehrmacht, just has an attractive liveliness.


Mission for Oliver, Jonathan Cape, 1953 [An adventure story set in 1805 about a drummer boy in the British Army. He and his cousin Polly, who is also on the boat, are sailing on a troop ship to Sicily. There the adventures really start among mountain bandits and carrying secret letters]

Polly and Oliver, Jonathan Cape, 1954 [Drummer Oliver Crowe of the 111th Regiment of Foot and his cousin Polly join the party escorting the spy, Zucconi, to Gibraltar. They are shipwrecked and captured by Genoese pirates, escape from Zucconi's band and make their way south through Italy to reach the British lines]

Polly and Oliver at Sea, Jonathan Cape, 1960

The Rajah's Treasure, Duell Sloan Pearce, 1960 [The United States edition of Polly and Oliver at Sea]

Polly and Oliver Besieged, Jonathan Cape, 1963

Polly and Oliver Pursued, Jonathan Cape, 1964

**

The Dragon and the Rose, Jonathan Cape, 1955 [Set in Renaissance Italy, artist's apprentice Carlo Rovero is drawn into a plan to protect the beautiful Princess Fiorella from her scheming uncle's plans to steal her inheritance. With his friends, and the King of the Troubadours, he must help her escape her uncle's clutches]

The Boy they made King, Jonathan Cape, 1959 [A fictionalised account of Lambert Simnel, pretender to Henry Tudor's throne]

Hideaway Johnny, Brockhampton, 1959 [“Alone and in trouble in 19th century London, Johnny Merrifield is befriended by a young nobleman with a passion for prize-fighting”]

By Jiminy, Brockhampton, 1962 [Two English children travel to join their archaeologist father in Naples for a holiday but they find that he has been kidnapped by a gang of criminals. The children make friends with a local boy, known to them as Jiminy, and with the help of his gang of ragazzi they rescue their father. The story was adapted into a film for the Children's Film Foundation and the location changed to Malta.]

Sandro's Battle, Jonathan Cape, 1962 [Sandro lives with his musical family, and his beloved donkey Anna, in a medieval castle in central Italy. It is near the end of the Second World War and the fighting between the Germans and the advancing Allied forces is ebbing and flowing around them. Sandro befriends the British and has to help them avoid defeat when German soldiers occupy the castle and plot a trap]

Saved by Jiminy, Brockhampton, 1963 [No details but the dustjacket shows Jiminy riding a camel]

By Jiminy Ahoy, Brockhampton, 1963 [Set in Italy. The story seems to involve an old shipwreck and the French title refers to a mysterious island]

By Jiminy in the Jungle, Brockhampton, 1964

By Jiminy in the Highlands, Brockhampton, 1966 [The only information I could find is that it is set in Scotland]

Hunt Royal, Jonathan Cape, 1958 [The story of the six week manhunt for King Charles II after the battle of Worcester in the English Civil War, and how he went on to win back his throne]

The Golden Pomegranate, University of London Press, 1971 [From the cover illustration it seems to be set in Tudor times]

Written as Richard Bowood

Horsey & Co and the Bank Robbers, Golden Pleasure Books, 1965 [Horsey and his friends find a message in a library book and decide to investigate. The adventure has them mixed up with a gang of bank robbers]

Red Gaskell's Gold, Macmillan, 1964 [The main characters are the members of the Barlow family]

Written as A. Scott Daniell

Young English: The Story of a Schoolboy, Jonathan Cape, 1931 [The author's fictional account of his time at Bedford Modern School, an independent school in England]

[Capn]

I want to read ALL of these! XD Oh dear!

Horsey & Co and the Bank Robbers has a 'collectable' designation - always worrying - but was affordable when I checked on Bookfinder (excl. shipping from the USA).

I couldn't find Sandro's Battle, but I have this horrible sense of deju vu.. have we talked about this before?! So strange - not on my shelves, and I can't find any record or bookmark.... did I dream it? NB: I have had two glasses of wine, and it's been a long week. Brain might be misfiring. XD
EDIT: Ah yes, we talked about it on Nov. 25th. Wow. The holiday season has already done a number on my short-term memory. At least I don't have to have the creepy feeling that I merely dreamed this book of destiny anymore. :S

Thanks so much for this, Len! :)

[Capn]

I also found this, referenced (but sadly not held) by OpenLibrary:

Cap of Honour - David Scott Daniell
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19787...

and another mysterious, tagless title on WorldCat:

Nicholas Wilde - David Scott Daniell
https://www.worldcat.org/title/13510067

[Capn]

I also found a summary for "The Rajah's Treasure" on WorldCat (thanks to Len, that's "Polly and Oliver at Sea", but U.S. edition):
A story of piracy on the high seas and an attempt to steal a treasure from the Rajah by the soldiers of the 111th Regiment of Foot (I can't tell if it's cut off, or if that's all there is...!).

And, this title:

The time of the singing
Author:David Scott Daniell
Print Book, English, 1941
Edition:Second impression View all formats and editions
Publisher:Jonathan Cape, London, 1941

So little information out there on this author!! Thanks for digging up all of what you found, Len - it might be the sole comprehensive source of it on the entire internet.

[Sem]

Capn wrote: "I want to read ALL of these! XD Oh dear!

Hunt Royal is very good, or I remember it as being very good. In fact, I took it off my shelves not long ago to reacquaint myself with it and it's now in the 'I should read this soon' pile. It was nice to see his name pop up on here.

[Len]

Capn wrote: "I want to read ALL of these! XD Oh dear!

Horsey & Co and the Bank Robbers has a 'collectable' designation - always worrying - but was affordable when I checked on Bookfinder (excl. shipping from t..."

Yes, I mentioned Sandro's Battle to you in a message reply a few days ago. That was before I found out what the book was about. For some reason we were discussing Arthur Catherall's salvage boat stories.

The novel Nicholas Wilde is definitely one of Daniell's adult books and I think Cap of Honour might be military history.

Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate them but I'm sure someone out there has done a better job.

[Capn]

Aha, that makes sense - I've come to ignore all WorldCat designations of 'fiction' or 'juvenile audiences' - it's incredibly inconsistent. I didn't look as a result, though it was probably clearly marked as adult fiction (or non-fiction, in the case of Cap of Honour). :S

Yeah, sorry - definitely the end of a long week! I was convinced I had dreamt about the "Sandro's Battle" title (and perhaps I did, after you mentioned it to me! I tend to check GR right before bed!). :) Rather relieved it's just a temporary lapse of memory, rather than a mystical book of destiny I'm fated to find. XD

(Have been reading too much juvenile fantasy lately!)

[Louise]

I loved The Boy They Made King when it was read to us at school when I was ten. It made a very vivid impression on me. I discovered the Polly and Oliver books at the library and enjoyed those very much. Mor recently I read Hunt Royal, about the escape of Charles II, which is good too, though that story is so exciting anyway that it doesn’t really need fictionalising.

[Michael]

Some additional information on this author and his output at this URL: https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2006/1...