John Pick

For the member of the South Australian House of Assembly, see John Pick (politician).

John Barclay Pick (26 December 1921 - 25 January 2015),[1] often credited as J.B. Pick, was an English poet, novelist, and biographer. He was a Quaker and a conscientious objector during the Second World War, serving in the Friends' Ambulance Unit and then as a coalminer.[2]

Pick was born in Leicester. He was married to Gene Pick (died 2019) with two children, both sons (Peter Pick and David Pick).[3] Pick received his education at Sidcot School, a Quaker institution in Somerset. He attended Cambridge University for a year but left at the outbreak of Second World War to join the Friends' Ambulance Unit. In the 1980s he moved to live in Balmaclellan in Galloway.[4][5]

Pick was the author of the novels Out of the Pit, The Lonely Aren't Alone, Under the Crust and A Land Fit for Eros, the last co-authored with John Atkins. He also wrote a number of short stories, articles, poetry, and nonfiction works. The Last Valley (originally published in the UK in 1959 as The Fat Valley[6]) was his first book to be published in the United States. It was later made into a film starring Omar Sharif and Michael Caine.[7]

## Works

[edit]

* The Last Valley Little, Brown & Co, 1959
* The Strange Genius of David Lindsay: An Appreciation (1970) with E. H. Visiak and Colin Wilson
* David Lindsay and the Sublime, in Cencrastus No. 2, Spring 1980, pp. 15 – 17
* Neil M. Gunn: selected letters (editor), Edinburgh, Polygon, 1987

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Obituary: John Barclay Pick, writer". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
2. ^ "John Pick, man of letters - obituary".
3. ^ "Click here to view the tribute page for Gene PICK".
4. ^ Pick, The Last Valley, jacket.
5. ^ Murray Ewing, violetapple.org.uk The Violet Apple: The Life and Works of David Lindsay (2009)
6. ^ Pick, The Last Valley, Sphere paperback, 1970, publishing history. The original publisher was Arco Publications
7. ^ Pick, The Last Valley, Sphere paperback, 1970, front cover.

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