Name Robert Westerby Role Author | Books Wide Boys Never Work | |
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Spouse Elizabeth Westerby (m. ?–1968) Movies War and Peace, The Three Lives of Thomasina, The Fighting Prince of, Cairo Road, Wicked as They Come Similar People Ennio de Concini, Don Chaffey, King Vidor, Oskar Homolka, Mario Camerini | ||
Robert Westerby (born 3 July 1909 in England, died 16 November 1968 in California, United States), was an author of novels (published by Arthur Barker of London) and screenwriter for films and television.
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Westerby's 1937 novel Wide Boys Never Work, a story of the criminal underworld before the Second World War, was the earliest published use of the word "wide boy". In 1956 the book was made into the British film Soho Incident (released in the United States as Spin a Dark Web). In 2008 London Books republished Wide Boys Never Work as part of their London Books classics series.
His account of his early life was entitled A Magnum for my Mother (1946). To the British public, a magnum just meant a large bottle of champagne. However, in the USA it could suggest a type of handgun, so it was retitled Champagne for Mother (1947).