author
W. A. (William Aubrey) Darlington
1890–1979
Best remembered for the comic fantasy Alf’s Button, he also spent decades shaping British theater journalism as a leading drama critic. His work blends sharp stage knowledge with an easy, playful sense of humor.
1 Audiobook
Alf's Button
by W. A. (William Aubrey) Darlington
About the author
Born in Taunton, Somerset, in 1890, W. A. Darlington was a British writer and journalist whose career moved between fiction and the theater world. He became especially well known as a drama critic for the Daily Telegraph, and sources also note work as a drama critic for The New York Times.
As a novelist, he is most closely linked with Alf’s Button, a comic fantasy published in 1920 about a soldier who discovers a magical button that can summon a genie. The book proved popular enough to inspire several film adaptations, helping secure his reputation with a wide audience beyond newspaper readers.
Darlington also wrote theater criticism and books on dramatic subjects, including Literature in the Theatre, and Other Essays and The World of Gilbert and Sullivan. He died in 1979, remembered both for his long influence on theater criticism and for the light, imaginative wit of his fiction.