A magpie Fortean.
Leslie Alan Shepard was born 21 June 1917 in West Ham, London—about two-and-a-half years before the publication of Fort’s first book. I do not know who his parents were, but according to obituaries he did not come from a privileged background—“genteel poor,” he said to one acquaintance, much later. He finished only an elementary education. As a youth, he was infatuated with Charles Kingsley’s collection of Greek myths. He left school at fourteen to become a library assistant but, finding no opening, studied shorthand, typing, and book-keeping, eventually taking a job as an office boy at an asbestos factory. By the time he was 20—so in 1937—he’d developed asbestosis.
Shepard had been interested in cinema since he was a child, and in 1941, he joined Paul Rotha Productions, where he worked in the cutting room. With the outbreak of World War II, he declared himself a conscientious objector, on general humanitarian grounds; he worked with the Civil Defence, carrying stretchers, instead. Also during the war, he worked with the Ministry of Information making regular newsreels. After the Axis powers were defeated, Shepard was a founder of Data Film Productions, serving on its board from 1945 to 1948. Around this time, he also went to work helping produce another regular news film, “Mining Review,” for the National Coal Board. Later, the Central Office of Information employed him to make documentaries.
Leslie Alan Shepard was born 21 June 1917 in West Ham, London—about two-and-a-half years before the publication of Fort’s first book. I do not know who his parents were, but according to obituaries he did not come from a privileged background—“genteel poor,” he said to one acquaintance, much later. He finished only an elementary education. As a youth, he was infatuated with Charles Kingsley’s collection of Greek myths. He left school at fourteen to become a library assistant but, finding no opening, studied shorthand, typing, and book-keeping, eventually taking a job as an office boy at an asbestos factory. By the time he was 20—so in 1937—he’d developed asbestosis.
Shepard had been interested in cinema since he was a child, and in 1941, he joined Paul Rotha Productions, where he worked in the cutting room. With the outbreak of World War II, he declared himself a conscientious objector, on general humanitarian grounds; he worked with the Civil Defence, carrying stretchers, instead. Also during the war, he worked with the Ministry of Information making regular newsreels. After the Axis powers were defeated, Shepard was a founder of Data Film Productions, serving on its board from 1945 to 1948. Around this time, he also went to work helping produce another regular news film, “Mining Review,” for the National Coal Board. Later, the Central Office of Information employed him to make documentaries.