author
Edgar Charles Middleton
1894–1939
A British playwright, journalist, and aviation writer whose career moved quickly from wartime flying books to West End plays and early film work. His short life packed in military service, political journalism, and a remarkable burst of writing across several genres.
1 Audiobook
The Way of the Air: A Description of Modern Aviation
by Edgar Charles Middleton
About the author
Born in 1894, Edgar Charles William Middleton was a British author and playwright educated at Bancroft's School in Essex. Before World War I he worked in Cape Town for the Eastern Telegraph Company, then returned to Britain when war broke out and served first with the Essex Regiment and then in the Royal Naval Air Service.
His early books drew heavily on that experience. Titles such as Aircraft, The Way of the Air, Glorious Exploits of the Air, and the multi-volume The Great War in the Air helped explain aviation to a public still fascinated by how new and dramatic flight seemed. He also worked as a journalist, which fed into a writing life that ranged from reporting and commentary to fiction and drama.
In the 1920s and 1930s, he became better known in theatre and screenwriting circles, with plays staged in London and credits on British films. He was married to the pioneering photographer Yevonde Middleton, better known as Madame Yevonde. Middleton died in 1939 at just 44, leaving behind a body of work that links wartime aviation writing with the British stage between the wars.