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{{Short description|British screenwriter (1907–1989)}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name           = T. E. B. Clarke
| image          = 
| caption        = 
| birth_name     = Thomas Ernest Bennett Clarke
| birth_date     = {{Birth date|1907|6|7|df=y}}
| birth_place    = [[Watford, Hertfordshire]], England, UK
| death_date     = {{Death date and age|1989|2|11|1907|6|7|df=y}}
| death_place    = [[London]], England, UK
| other_names    = Tibby
| spouse         = {{marriage|Joyce Caroline Steele|1932|1983|reason=died}}
| relations      = [[Dudley Clarke]] (older brother)
| occupation     = Writer, screenwriter
| years_active   = 1944–1980
| awards = {{Awd|[[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|'''Academy Award for Best Story and Screenplay''']]|1952|[[The Lavender Hill Mob]]}}
}}
'''Thomas Ernest Bennett''' "'''Tibby'''" '''Clarke''', [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] (7 June 1907 – 11 February 1989) was a film screenwriter who wrote several of the [[Ealing Studios]] comedies.

==Early life==
Clarke was born in [[Watford]] on 7 June 1907. His father, Ernest Clarke, had been raised in [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]], moving to [[South Africa]] in the late 19th century. He was enlisted to carry dispatches for the [[Jameson Raid]] though, avoiding imprisonment, managed to obtain a job working for a gold mining company. Ernest then married Madeline Gardiner, with whom he raised three children. Their eldest child was [[Dudley Clarke]], who would later become a pioneer of military deception operations during the [[World War II|Second World War]]. A girl, Dollie, followed. 

The gold mining company Ernest had been working for then offered him an opportunity to move to their [[London]] office, enabling him to return to [[England]] with his young family. They sailed from South Africa, the first ship to leave the country following the end of the [[Boer War]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=T.E.B |author-link=T.E.B. Clarke |date=1974 |title=This is Where I Came In |location=London |publisher=Michael Joseph Ltd. |page=18 |isbn=0718112237}}</ref> Upon arriving in England, Ernest purchased a house in Watford, where Madeline gave birth to their third and final child, Thomas Ernest Bennett Clarke.

Always known as "Tibby", Clarke attended [[Charterhouse School]] and [[Clare College, Cambridge]], where he studied law for a year before departing after he was caught impersonating a [[Proctor#Education|proctor]] and booking students for being out after dark without a cap and gown.<ref name=dnb>Street, Sarah (rev.), [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39926 "Clarke, Thomas Ernest Bennett (1907–1989)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2024. {{subscription required}}</ref><ref>T. E. B. Howarth, ''Cambridge Between Two Wars'' (London: Collins, 1978), p. 64. {{ISBN|0002111810}}</ref> He then visited Australia, New Zealand, San Francisco, and Canada, returning to England to work as a journalist for, in succession, the ''Hardware Trade Journal'', the weekly magazine ''[[Answers (periodical)|Answers]]'', and ''[[The Daily Sketch]]'' tabloid newspaper. After gaining temporary employment as a publicity officer for the W. S. Crawford Advertising Agency in the late 1920s, he came into contact with the film industry for the first time.<ref name=dnb/>

==Film career==
Clarke's first screen credit was for heavily modifying the script of ''[[For Those in Peril (1944 film)|For Those in Peril]]'' in 1944, followed by proper contributions to ''[[The Halfway House]]'' (1944) and ''[[Johnny Frenchman]]'' (1945).<ref name=dnb/> His scripts always featured careful logical development from a slightly absurd premise to a farcical conclusion. In 1952, he was awarded a [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Original Screenplay]] [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] for his script for ''[[The Lavender Hill Mob]]'', making him one of just a handful of Britons to receive this award. He continued to work as a scriptwriter after Ealing ceased production, his later contributions including ''[[Sons and Lovers (film)|Sons and Lovers]]'' and the [[Disney]] film ''[[The Horse Without a Head]]''.

Clarke was also a novelist and writer of non-fiction, but presented at least one fictional work as fact. His book ''[[Murder at Buckingham Palace]]'' (1981) purports to tell the story of a hushed-up murder at the Royal residence in 1935. Despite its including 'documentary' photographs, there is no external evidence that the book is anything but pure fiction. For ''[[The Blue Lamp]]'' (1950) he drew on his experience as a [[war reserve constable]] with the [[Metropolitan Police]] during the [[Second World War]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Burton|first1=Alan|last2=Chibnall|first2=Steve|title=Historical dictionary of British cinema|date=2013|publisher=Scarecrow Press Inc.|location=Blue Ridge Summit, MA|isbn=9780810867949|page=103}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/15/obituaries/teb-clarke-writer-dies-at-81.html|title=T.E.B. Clarke, Writer, Dies at 81|work=New York Times|date=15 February 1989|access-date=23 November 2020}}</ref>

He was awarded the OBE in 1952. He was the subject of ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' in 1960 when he was surprised by [[Eamonn Andrews]] at the [[BBC Television Theatre]].

==Animal welfare==

Clarke was an advocate of [[animal welfare]] and opposed [[coursing]]. He authored ''A Savage Sport: The Case Against Coursing'' for the [[National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports]] in 1935.<ref>Clarke, T. E. B. (1935). [https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/mc00456-001-bx0006-011-001 ''A Savage Sport: The Case Against Coursing'']. National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports.</ref>

==Death==

Clarke was diagnosed with cancer in 1988. He died at [[London Bridge Hospital]] in February, 1989.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0003760%2F19890216&page=2|title=Obituary: Mr T E B Clarke|newspaper=Horley & Gatwick Mirror |date=February 16, 1989|page=2}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
===Screenplays===

*''[[Johnny Frenchman]]'' (1945)
*''[[Hue and Cry (film)|Hue and Cry]]'' (1947)
*''[[Against the Wind (1948 film)|Against the Wind]]'' (1948)
*''[[Passport to Pimlico]]'' (1949)
*''[[The Blue Lamp]]'' (1950)
*''[[The Magnet (film)|The Magnet]]'' (1950)
*''[[The Lavender Hill Mob]]'' (1951)
*''[[The Titfield Thunderbolt]]'' (1953)
*''[[The Rainbow Jacket]]'' (1954)
*''[[Who Done It? (1956 film)|Who Done It?]]'' (1956)
*''[[Barnacle Bill (1957 film)|Barnacle Bill]]'' (US: ''All at Sea'', 1957)
*''[[Gideon's Day (film)|Gideon's Day]]'' (US: ''Gideon of Scotland Yard'', 1958)
*''[[Sons and Lovers (film)|Sons and Lovers]]'' (1960)
*''The Horse Without a Head''
*''[[High Rise Donkey]]'' (1980)

===Non-fiction===

*[https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/mc00456-001-bx0006-011-001 ''A Savage Sport: The Case Against Coursing'']
*''Go South - Go West''
*''What's Yours?''
*''Intimate Relations''
*''This is Where I Came In''

===Novels===

*''Jeremy's England''
*''Cartwright Was a Cad''
*''Two and Two Make Five''
*''Mr Spirket Reforms''
*''The World Was Mine''
*''The Wide Open Door''
*''The Trail of the Serpent''
*''The Wrong Turning''
*''The Man Who Seduced a Bank''
*''Murder at Buckingham Palace''
*''Intimate Relations'' ({{ISBN|9780718109271}})

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Screenonline name|id=447729}}

{{AcademyAwardBestOriginalScreenplay 1940–1960}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, T. E. B.}}

[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English screenwriters]]
[[Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Anti-hunting activists]]
[[Category:Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:20th-century British police officers]]
[[Category:Metropolitan Police officers]]
[[Category:People educated at Charterhouse School]]
[[Category:People from Watford]]
[[Category:Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire]]