An English author playwright screenwriter and amateur footballer His novels and screenplays explore the political and economic struggles of workingclass Northern England particularly in his native West RidingSouth Yorkshire He is best known for the novel A Kestrel for a Knave 1968 which he helped adapt for Ken Loachs film Kes 1969 He collaborated with Loach on adaptations of his novels Looks and Smiles and The Gamekeeper and the 1977 twopart television drama The Price of Coal He also wrote the television film Threads which depicts the impact of a nuclear war on Sheffield
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