Nevil Shute (left) was a popular English novelist who wrote 25 novels. His book titles included ‘A Town Like Alice’ and ‘On The Beach’.
Shute lived on Hayling Island and around Langstone Harbour for 27 years, so many of his novels contain local references.
Did You Know?
His avid novel followers are called ‘Shutists’. There have been many major gatherings of his fans all around the world since 1999, like the one above.
Nevil Shute was an early pioneer in motor racing and flying and had his own plane, an Auster. In the late 1920s he was also involved with the design and testing of the internal structure of Britain’s first airship, the R100.
He moved to Langstone Mill in late 1939, from his previous house in Southsea, to avoid the risk of stray bombs during WW2. In late 1939 the Shute family moved to Langstone Towers within sight of Langstone Harbour. He then moved to Pond Head House, Langstone.
During WW2 Nevil worked for Airspeed and his name and the factory are commemorated by road names within the Old Portsmouth Aerodrome Industrial Park.
Shute also worked for the Admiralty in London for much of the war and was head engineer on many secret weapon projects based in Portsmouth and Hayling.
Did You Know?
In 1943 Nevil Shute worked on the Grasshopper landing craft multiple rocket launcher, designed to fire over 1,000 rockets in salvos!
Shute developed Fresh Water Stills to provide drinking water for lifeboats. History records show “The work was commenced without official requirement on the instructions of Lt Cdr N.S.Norway RNVR whose foresight anticipated the arising of the requirement”.
He also had a distinguished war career working alongside Barnes Wallis, who invented the bouncing bomb. He oversaw the construction of the Swallow smoke screen laying glider, a clockwork pilotless aircraft designed by Wallis.
Shute love cars . In 1956 he bought a Jaguar XK140 and raced competitively around UK tracks. He justified the purchase as research for his novel On The Beach.
- Read more about Nevil Shute and his life – click here
- Read the Wikipedia entry on Nevil Shute – click here