R Chetwynd-Hayes was born in the West London suburb of Isleworth, the son of a movie-theatre manager. These books proved to be extremely popular, and Ronald was always proud of the fact that each year he was one of the highest earners of the annual Public Lending Right (PLR), based on the number of times an author’s books are loaned out from libraries in the UK. In the 1970s and ’80s Ronald produced a further twelve original collections of ghost stories, which were aimed principally at the library market in Britain. This ability to create new creatures is perhaps never more evident than in his most famous book, The Monster Club, in which he set out ‘The Basic Rules of Monsterdom’. Not only was he happy to write about such genre standards as ghosts, demons, ghouls, vampires and werewolves, but he delighted in making up his own bizarre monster variations that managed to stretch the imaginations of both author and reader alike. It just slips in, I have never been able to stop it.” However, his skill as a horror writer also resided in his ability to bring new perspectives to familiar themes. “I’ve always got this terrible urge to send the whole thing up. Ronald’s tales of terror are often notable for a disarming sense of humour, which the author readily admitted that he could not help. In 1989 he was presented with Life Achievement Awards by both the Horror Writers of America and the British Fantasy Society. Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes (1919-2001) was known as ‘Britain’s Prince of Chill’, and his numerous collections of genteel and humorous ghost stories filled the shelves of almost every public library in Britain during the 1980s.
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