21 Facts About Montague Haltrecht

Montague Haltrecht was an English writer, literary critic, model and radio and TV presenter.

Montague Haltrecht was employed as new fiction reviewer by The Sunday Times and contributed numerous reviews to many other leading British publications.

Montague Haltrecht was born in Willesden, Middlesex on 27 February 1932, the third son of immigrant Jewish parents.

Herbert Montague Haltrecht was killed in action in Burma during World War II in August 1945, while Kate Montague Haltrecht died seven years later in 1952.

Phil Montague Haltrecht found comfort in a friend of his wife's called Rose and married her sometime later.

Montague Haltrecht attended the Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, then located in Cricklewood, North London, between 1942 and 1948, before going on to Wadham College, Oxford in 1950 to study law before changing to English, French and Spanish.

However, Montague Haltrecht kept turning down his father's offer of a job in the family business.

Montague Haltrecht rented a room, and to pay his rent he worked as a supply teacher, a railway porter, and as a reader of plays for the National Theatre at ten shillings a play.

Montague Haltrecht later worked as a stagehand at a London theatre and as an 'extra' in several TV films, all the time continuing to write.

Montague Haltrecht assumed the lease of a larger flat, shared with his brother Norman and the latter's wife Anita.

The success of his first novel led The Sunday Times in 1965 to invite Montague Haltrecht to be their new fiction reviewer.

Montague Haltrecht eked out his modest salary by selling the copies of books he had reviewed to bookshop owners for a few pounds each.

Montague Haltrecht continued as reviewer until 1969 when he decided to give up the post so as not to interfere with the writing of any future novels.

Montague Haltrecht had already worked for the BBC translating plays from French and Spanish.

In 1983, BBC Radio producer Daniel Snowman asked Montague Haltrecht to be the presenter of a programme called Enjoying Opera, which proved to be so successful that he was asked to do five more and which were rebroadcast in 1984.

In that same year, Montague Haltrecht interviewed Irene Handl on BBC Radio about her book The Sioux.

In 1988, Montague Haltrecht wrote and presented Enter One in Sad Green for John Knight, which examined the way in which Jews have been portrayed in the theatre throughout history.

Montague Haltrecht then presented The Slate: Coming up for More in 1995 for the BBC, a programme about the writer Bernice Rubens and featuring extract readings by Sian Phillips and interviews with Rubens herself and other writers.

Montague Haltrecht was included in the final Favourite Moments of the Series in 2009.

Montague Haltrecht travelled with his partner to New York City to collect it.

Montague Haltrecht, being born into an Orthodox Jewish community, struggled with his homosexuality.