Reginald Berkeley

Born in London on August 18, 1890, Reginald Cheyne Berkeley trained as a lawyer before his life took several sharp turns. He served in the First World War and was awarded the Military Cross, then entered politics and became a Liberal Member of Parliament for Nottingham from 1922 to 1924.

After politics, he built a wide-ranging writing career. Berkeley wrote stage plays and novels, became an important early writer for radio drama, and later worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood. Science fiction reference sources also note him as a writer who worked across several genres rather than staying in just one lane.

He died in Hollywood on March 30, 1935, at only 44. Even in that short span, his career connected the worlds of law, war, politics, theatre, radio, and film in a way that still feels unusually modern.