{{Short description|British author, artist, and publisher (1945–2020)}} {{for|the basketball player|David Britton (basketball)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox writer | name = David Britton | image = | caption = | birth_date = 18 February 1945 | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|2020|12|29|1945|2|18|df=y}} | occupation = Author, artist, publisher | period = 1970s–2020 | genre = Speculative fiction, Horror | notable_works = ''Lord Horror'', ''Motherfuckers: The Auschwitz of Oz'', ''Baptised in the Blood of Millions'' | alma_mater = St John's College, Durham | partner = Michael Butterworth (co-founder of Savoy Books) }} '''David Britton''' (18 February 1945 – 29 December 2020)<ref>{{cite web| url = https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/britton_david| title = SFE: Britton, David}} </ref> was a British author, artist, and publisher. In the 1970s he founded ''Weird Fantasy'' and ''Crucified Toad'', a series of small press magazines of the speculative fiction and horror genres. In 1976, Britton and Michael Butterworth co-founded the publishing house Savoy Books.<ref name="telegraph-obit">{{cite web |title=David Britton, maverick who published the last novel in Britain to be banned for obscenity – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/01/29/david-britton-maverick-published-last-novel-britain-banned-obscenity/ |website=The Telegraph |access-date=14 March 2021 |date=29 January 2021}}</ref>
==Biography== Britton was a student at St John's College, Durham, graduating in 1969 with a degree in Education.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Class Notes |journal=Dunelm Magazine |date=2015 |issue=1 |page=10 |url=https://issuu.com/durhamfirst/docs/02_dur_alumni_mag_lo_res/33 |accessdate=8 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref> In 1976, Britton founded the publisher and distributor Savoy Books with Michael Butterworth, who he had met in the early seventies. At the time, Britton was running the bookshop The House on the Borderland in Manchester.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://thequietus.com/articles/10988-michael-butterworth-savoy-publisher-interview | title=The Quietus | Features | Tome on the Range | Lord Horror: A History of Savoy Publishing | date=16 December 2012 }}</ref>
In 1989, Britton wrote ''Lord Horror'' published by Savoy Books, a dystopian horror with a central character based on Nazi collaborator William Joyce, also known as Lord Haw-Haw. This became the last publication to be banned under the United Kingdom's Obscene Publications Act in 1992, with Britton serving a jail term at HM Prison Manchester. The ruling was later overturned on appeal after a defence led by human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/160870252-last-author-banned-obscene-comes-out-hiding-manchester-exhibition-boundary-pushing|title = Last author banned as 'obscene' comes out of hiding for Manchester exhibition on boundary-pushing books|date = 16 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.h2g2.com/edited_entry/A679016|title = H2g2 - the Obscene Publications Act, 1857 - Edited Entry| date=30 January 2002 }}</ref> Copies of the book which had been seized were not returned. A graphic novel adaptation of the book also remained banned.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/britton_david| title = SFE: Britton, David}} </ref>
==Work== Britton was the creator and scriptwriter of the ''Lord Horror'' and ''Meng and Ecker'' comics published by Savoy. These characters also appear in a trio of novels written by Britton: ''Lord Horror'', ''Motherfuckers: The Auschwitz of Oz'', and ''Baptised in the Blood of Millions''.
"''Lord Horror''," Britton said, "was so unique and radical, I expected to go to prison for it. I always thought that if you wrote a truly dangerous book -- something dangerous would happen to you. Which is one reason there are so few really dangerous books around. Publishers play at promoting dangerous books, whether they're Serpent's Tail or Penguin. All you get is a book vetted by committee, never anything radically imaginative or offensive that will take your fucking head off. Ironically, I think it would do other authors a power of good if they had to account for their books by going to prison -- there are far too many bad books being published!"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/dave.html|title=Savoy People: David Britton}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=March 2016}}
According to Michael Moorcock, ''Lord Horror'' series is the only "alternate history" to confront "Nazism with appropriate originality and passion."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3644962/If-Hitler-had-won-World-War-Two.html|title = If Hitler had won World War Two…| date=11 July 2005 }}</ref>
==Influence== Keith Seward has produced a book looking at the Lord Horror stories called ''Horror Panegyric'' which features excerpts as well as a prologue examining the tales.<ref>[http://supervert.com/essays/horror_panegyric/ ''Horror Panegyric'']</ref>
===Publications=== * ''Lord Horror'' (1989, Savoy Books) - Butterworth edited and provided text<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.savoy.abel.co.uk/HTML/lhorror.html|title=Savoy Books: Lord Horror}}</ref> * ''Lord Horror: Reverbstorm No.12'' (1996, Savoy Books) {{ISBN|9780861300969}} * ''Motherfuckers: The Auschwitz of Oz'' (1996) * ''Baptised in the Blood of Millions'' (2001)
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Britton, David}} Category:1945 births Category:2020 deaths Category:20th-century British novelists Category:21st-century British novelists Category:British alternative history writers Category:British comics writers Category:Keytarists Category:British male novelists Category:20th-century British male writers Category:21st-century British male writers Category:Alumni of St John's College, Durham Category:Obscenity controversies in comics Category:Obscenity controversies in literature Category:Overturned convictions in England Category:Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales