Stella Gibbons

British Novelist Stella Gibbons was born in London, England, in 1902, one of three children. Her father was a doctor with offices in the poor section of the city, and her home life was not a happy one. She would make up wild, romantic stories to tell her brothers and other neighborhood children to "escape" from the poverty in the neighborhood and the tense situations at home. Her father home-schooled her until she was 13, at which time he sent her to the North London Collegiate School for Girls. At 19 she attended University College in London for two years, majoring in journalism (it was the only college in London that actually had a journalism course). After graduation she got a job at the British office of United Press, decoding cables. It was here she became a professional writer, learning to edit out irrelevant text, keep the reader interested in the article and present facts clearly and and with some flair. She spent ten years on "Fleet Street", doing different jobs for different employers, and began writing short stories and poetry. Unlike many writers, she refused to use a typewriter, preferring to write her stories, plots, ideas, etc. , with a pen in notebooks.

Made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1951.

Her best-known novel is probably "Cold Comfort Farm", which was made into a film (Cold Comfort Farm (1995)). She died in London, England, on Dec.

The phrase "There's something nasty in the woodshed" (spoken by Ada Doom in "Cold Comfort Farm") has become part of the English language and was included in a 1996 pop song "Something For The Weekend" by The Divine Comedy.