CAPON, Paul (Harry)

(1911-1969)

   UK writer who also worked for many years as an editor and administrator in film and tv production, ending his career as head of the Film Department of Independent Television News. From 1942 he wrote fairly copiously in various genres, including detective stories. His first sf was the Antigeos trilogy - The Other Side of the Sun (1950), The Other Half of the Planet (1952) and Down to Earth (1954) - some parts of which were serialized on BBC RADIO. The sequence deals with the discovery of an Earth-like planet, hidden directly behind the Sun, whose UTOPIAN life leaves itself open to exploitation by villainous humans. Into the Tenth Millennium (1956) concerns three people who travel into the future utilizing a drug which slows down body metabolism; they emerge into a utopian world of great charm and interest - Capon's utopias are less stuffy and preachy than most - but the woman cannot make the necessary psychological adjustment. Most of PC's sf was for children, including The World at Bay (1953), The Wonderbolt (1955), Phobos, the Robot Planet (1955; vt Lost, a Moon 1956 US) and Flight of Time (1960). PC wrote well and created unusually solid future worlds.

   PN

   See also: CHILDREN'S SF; PHYSICS