Ralph Barker

Ralph Barker (born 1917 in Feltham, Middlesex) is an English non-fiction author with over twenty-five books to his credit. He has written mainly about the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Air Force (RAF) operations in the First and Second World Wars, and about cricket.

He was educated at Hounslow College, and on leaving school joined the "Sporting Life" in 1934. Subsequently he went into banking. He had started writing, and several of his sketches were used in West End revues.

Following the outbreak of World War II, in 1940 he joined the RAF as a wireless operator and air gunner. He served in the Middle East and West Africa as well as in the UK, and completed two thousand flying hours before he was demobilized in 1946. He briefly went back to banking, before going into civil aviation as a radio operator. At the end of 1948, he rejoined the RAF and went to Germany as a public relations officer in connection with the Berlin Airlift. He spent two years in service broadcasting at BFN Hamburg. He was then posted to the Air Ministry to work on official war narratives.

His first book, "Down in the Drink", was published in 1955. He has since written many more on a military aviation theme. Barker left the RAF in 1961 in order to write full time. He was a frequent contributor of feature articles to the "Sunday Express".

He turned to cricket writing in 1964, with "Ten Great Innings". John Arlott, reviewing "Ten Great Bowlers", its follow-up, described Barker as "a master of the reconstruction of past cricket matches". His most substantial book on cricket is a history of Tests between England and Australia, published in 1969, which included a report of every match and a summary of each series. The statistics were provided by Irving Rosenwater.

Barker played regularly for the RAF's cricket club, the Adastrians, and subsequently for several clubs in Surrey, including West Surrey, whom he captained for a number of years.

Bibliography

Cricket

*"Ten Great Innings" (1964)
*"Ten Great Bowlers" (1967)
*"England Versus Australia: Test Cricket 1877-1968" (with Irving Rosenwater) (1969)
*"Cricketing Family Edrich" (1976)
*"Innings of a Lifetime, 1954-77" (1982)
*"Purple Patches" (1987)

Aviation

*"Down in the Drink" (1955)
*"The Ship-Busters: The Story of the R.A.F. Torpedo-Bombers" (1957)
*"Strike Hard, Strike Sure: Epics of the Bombers" (1963)
*"The Thousand Plan: The Story of the First Thousand Bomber Raid on Cologne" (1965)
*"Great Mysteries of the Air" (1966)
*"Verdict on a Lost Flyer: Story of Bill Lancaster" (1969)
*"The Schneider Trophy Races" (1971)
*"Torpedo Bomber" (1973)
*"The Blockade Busters" (1976)
*"Survival in the Sky" (1976)
*"The Hurricats" (1978)
*"Royal Air Force at War (Epic of Flight Series)" (1982)
*"The Royal Flying Corps in France: From Mons to the Somme (History & Politics)" (1994)
*"The Royal Flying Corps in France: From Bloody April 1917 To Final Victory" (1995)
*"A Brief History of the Royal Flying Corps in World War One (Brief Histories)" (2002)
*"Men of the Bombers: Remarkable Incidents in World War II" (2005)

Other subjects

*"The Last Blue Mountain" (1959)
*"Against the Sea: True Stories of Survival and Disaster" (1972)
*"One Man's Jungle: A Biography of F.Spencer Chapman, D.S.O." (1975)
*"Goodnight, Sorry for Sinking You: Story of S. S. "City of Cairo" (1984)
*"Children of the "Benares": A War Crime and Its Victims" (1987)

References

*Ralph Barker & Irving Rosenwater, England v Australia: A compendium of Test cricket between the countries 1877-1968, Batsford, 1969, ISBN 0-7134-0317-9. Biographical information on Barker is given on the dust-jacket.
* [http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:mWbZ-nysJdUJ:library.paisley.ac.uk/services/specialcoll/aviation_paperbacks/1970s/Aviation%2520Paperbacks%25201977.doc+%22Ralph+Barker%22+1917&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=12&gl=uk Contains publisher's blurb for his book "Survival in the Sky" giving biographical information]