Film expert Robert Murphy’s notes for new book are snatched

Published: 09 September, 2010
by TOM FOOT

A LEADING film expert has been left devastated after hundreds of pages of notes for an eagerly awaited book were snatched by thieves in Camden Town. 

Professor Robert Murphy, 62, had spent months in the British Library working on his book about the first “talkies” – early sound films – in our cinemas, made between 1929 and 1931.

He was at the Stables ­Market two weeks ago when the notes, which he kept inside a rucksack, were taken when he was not looking.

His partner Jill Nelmes, a senior university lecturer in film who lives in Gospel Oak, said: “There must have been hundreds of pages. He just put his bag down and when he looked again it was gone. We think a little team had whipped it away. We contacted the police but it has probably been thrown away – it is really unfortunate.”

The rucksack is described as blue and black and was also “pretty scruffy looking”, according to Ms Nelmes. It also contained a pair of reading glasses and some books.

Mr Murphy, a professor of film studies in De Montfort University, is considered one of the most influential writers on British film and had been working on the book for the past two years. He has ­written several books about British Cinema, and Smash and Grab, a history of the London underworld in the first half of the 20th century.