Derek Robinson

1932–

British novelist and broadcaster from Bristol, best known for darkly comic novels about military aviation. After national service in the Royal Air Force he read history at Downing College, Cambridge, worked in advertising in Britain and the United States, and later presented radio and television programmes; he was also a rugby union referee for more than thirty years. His fiction includes Piece of Cake, A Good Clean Fight and the Luis Cabrillo spy novels, alongside books on Bristol history and rugby. Goshawk Squadron, his first novel, set among fighter pilots in early 1918, was shortlisted for the 1971 Booker Prize.

Timeline of Derek Robinson’s life

Works

Prizes