The Weird World of LP Davies

On the evening of September 19th 2024, a packed room assembled for the latest History of Deganwy Group meeting, despite the balmy weather outside. Most members were familiar with our speaker, Kevin Slattery, as we are lucky to have him as the Group’s Chairman. Kevin was born in Plymouth to an English mother and an Irish father; he completed the national set when he married Joanna, who is of Welsh descent. He has an academic background in languages including Spanish, French, German, Portuguese… and of course Welsh. He is also an avid reader, hence his interest in tonight’s subject.

Leslie Purnell Davies, who also wrote under multiple pseudonyms (including Leslie Vardre), was an author who always questioned reality. He was born in Crewe on 24 October 1914, and began work in a pharmacy aged 16, remaining there until 1939. His academic prowess is evidenced by his being elected a Fellow of the British Optical Society.

L P Davies

At the start of WW2, he enrolled as a member of the Medical Corps and was initially sent to France, followed by North Africa with the 8th Army. By the end of the war, he was a Staff Sergeant in Italy, so he would have had a lot of traumatic experiences during his service. He remained in Rome, which had been devastated by bombing and where he must have witnessed terrible scenes, and eked out a living as an artist for a year or so.

On 13th November 1940, Davies had married Winifred Tench; not much is known of her life except that she died soon after him, and they were buried in the same cemetery so it can be assumed that they spent their lives together.

After his period in Rome, he returned to the UK and became a postmaster in West Heath, Birmingham, from 1946 to 1951. There is a gap in his biography after this, but in 1956 he moved to Deganwy, setting up as a private optometrist and running a gift shop. He was certainly a character and somewhat eccentric – he hated telephones and cars, and refused to have either, but had a ‘weakness for poodles, alpine plants and all things unusual’. It was during his time in Deganwy that he started writing short stories, and then considered becoming a full-time author. His preferred place of work was his shop, and, unusually for an author, he apparently welcomed interruptions by customers.

In 1975 he retired, and moved to the Canary Islands with Winifred; he died in Tenerife in 1988. He left a legacy of about 20 novels, pageturners full of mystery, alternate realities and science fiction. Kevin described the plots of several of these, drawing attention to the 1960s and 70s memories which they evoke (smoking in hospitals, for instance!) as well as the resonances with today’s culture and politics. There were no spoilers, but members intrigued by Kevin’s descriptions can borrow the books through the library service – these are the ones he discussed, along with their dates of publication:

Man Out Of Nowhere 1965
The Artificial Man 1965
Psychogeist 1966
The Twilight Journey 1967
The Alien 1968
Genesis Two 1969
Stranger To Town 1969
The White Room 1969
Give Me Back Myself 1972
What Did I Do Tomorrow? 1973

One book, The Alien, was adapted into a Hollywood film, The Groundstar Conspiracy, starring George Peppard, Michael Sarrazin and Christine Belford in 1972 – we viewed the very dramatic trailer, and the full movie is available to watch on YouTube. Kevin pointed out that the film includes a bedroom scene, though none of L.P. Davies’s books did so.

The Alien

The Groundstar Conspiracy

The talk was followed by interesting reminiscences by some of those present – mostly calling to mind a smoke-filled shop, with the author busily typing. One attendee was able to confirm that the shop was at 35 Station Road – now Nicola’s Barbershop – and that his house was Tŷ Newydd, next to Heron Rise, on the other side of the road.

Many thanks to Kevin for drawing our attention to such an interesting local character, and his work and influence – a most unusual evening was enjoyed by all.