Llandaff - Terry Nation

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Llandaff - a City within a City

Terry Nation

"The life and times of Llandaff boy Terry Nation was revealed in a Christmas and New Year broadcast on BBC Radio Wales, called The Terry Nation Story: A Radio Wales Arts Show Special.

Terry Nation was born in 1930 and raised in Fairwater Grove West, Llandaff, where neighbours remembered him writing stories as a boy - sitting on the back step jotting ideas down in his notebook. He is remembered as the man who invented The Daleks in only the second-ever Doctor Who story. But as Nicola Heywood Thomas revealed in the programme, he did so much more.

"He started writing and performing stand-up comedy, but while his material was good, he wasn't great on stage. So he gave up his job in Cavendish's furniture shop in the city centre and tried script-writing full time. He moved to London and joined the agency handling Galton and Simpson, Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes and was actually working for Tony Hancock when the call from the Doctor Who team came.

To this day, all Doctor Who stories featuring his aliens include the legend: 'The Daleks were created by Terry Nation'. But he did so much more.
He wrote for The Saint, The Avengers, Department S and The Baron, amongst others. And when a new series started featuring Sir Roger Moore and Hollywood legend Tony Curtis and called The Persuaders, Terry Nation was brought in as script editor and associate producer. Sir Roger Moore is among those featured in the programme.
Terry then went on to develop two iconic series for the BBC - Survivors and Blake's 7.
He moved to America when he was head hunted by studios to work on the development of new shows. He died in Los Angeles in 1997."

Steve Groves, Producer, The Terry Nation Story: A Radio Wales Arts Show Special

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