The location and environment for "The Avenue" ("The Dreaming Suburb" and
"The Avenue Goes To War") is based extensively on Addiscombe, near
Croydon, where R F Delderfield lived between the ages of 6 and 11.
Bamfylde School ("To Serve Them All My Days") is based on West Buckland
School, near Taunton, the public school that R F Delderfield attended
between the ages of 14 and 16.
In "To Serve Them All My Days", the names of two of the Bamfylde School
houses, Havelock and Outram, are named after roads in Addiscombe, near
Croydon, where R F Delderfield lived between the ages of 6 and 11.
Children: Veronica (adopted 1944) and Paul (adopted 1946).
English novelist, playwright and author of historical non-fiction, a former journalist. Best known for his novels of provincial domestic life, featuring ordinary people from Edwardian times to the 1960's.