Arthur Applin

Born in Torquay on 3 March 1873, Arthur Gustavos Trugard Applin was an English actor, playwright, and novelist. Reliable reference sources also note that he served as an aviator during the First World War, giving his career an unusually wide sweep across theatre, fiction, and public life.

Applin wrote popular novels and stage works in the early decades of the 20th century, and some of his stories reached the screen. He is linked with films including The Lure of London, Madame Pinkette & Co., and London Love, the last adapted from his novel The Whirlpool. Science-fiction reference sources especially remember him for The Priest of Piccadilly (1910), a near-future story about political upheaval in Britain.

He died in Marylebone, London, on 10 September 1949. Although he is not widely known today, his career stands out for its mix of theatrical work, popular fiction, and a brief but memorable place in early speculative writing.