Names on the buses

204 John Boulting

Connections with Brighton and Hove : Twin brothers, John Edward and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting, born at Bray, Buckinghamshire, on 21 December 1913, constitute one of those producer-director teams responsible for so much notable British cinema. For most of their careers, one produced while the other directed, but the product remained essentially a 'Boulting Brothers film'. Socialistically inclined (John fought with the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War), despite a somewhat patrician demeanour, they wanted film to have serious connections with social reality John's compelling adaptation of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock (1948), with its evocation of a tawdry and violent world, was a box-office success and has proved to be an enduring classic. The Boultings were an influential force behind the scenes in British cinema. Not only were they among the most successful production teams, they also contributed to its industrial muscle as directors of British Lion, an independent distribution company which offered producers an alternative to the Rank/ABPC duopoly. John died of cancer at Sunningdale on 17 June 1985. Roy died of cancer at Oxford on 5 November 2001, without having completed the memoirs he had been working on for some years.

204 Volvo Gemini - carried name since October 2022.