her plays. Cecil Beaton called it "a strange, remarkable, original and warped life." Works National Velvet (1935), is the story of a young girl who wins the Grand National steeplechase. A highly successful film version came out in 1944, starring the young Elizabeth Taylor. However, Bagnold's work includes a broad range of subject matter and style. The Squire is a novel about having a baby. Bagnold's biographer Anne Sebba says that "although always described as a novel, the serious effort to discover the motivations of a mother and the instincts of children leads The Squire close to the realms of documentary." The feminist weekly Time and Tide described it as "a mark in feminist history as well as a fine literary feat." The Loved and Envied (1951), is a study of approaching old age in which the protagonist, Lady Ruby MacLean, is thought to have been based on Lady Diana Cooper. An adaption of National Velvet for the theatre was produced and directed by Anthony Hawtrey for his Embassy Theatre at Swiss Cottage in 1946, and published in Volume 2 of his Embassy Successes (1946). But The Chalk Garden (1955), film version 1964, was Bagnold's greatest stage success. The Chinese Prime Minister was presented on Broadway in 1965 with Edith Evans. A Matter of Gravity, originally titled Call Me Jacky, played on Broadway as a star vehicle for Katharine Hepburn in 1976. These three plays, along with The Last Joke - a notable flop at the Phoenix Theatre in 1960 despite its star cast of John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Anna Massey - were collected together by Heinemann as Four Plays by Enid Bagnold in 1970. A Diary Without Dates (1917) The Sailing Ships and other poems (1918) The Happy Foreigner (1920) Serena Blandish or the Difficulty of Getting Married (1924) Alice & Thomas & Jane (1930). Illustrated by Laurian Jones National Velvet (1935). Illustrated by Laurian Jones The Squire, aka The Door of Life (1938), republished in 2013 by Persephone Books Two Plays (1944) ('Lottie Dundass' and 'Poor Judas'), US edition Theatre (1951) National Velvet (play, 1946) The Loved and Envied (1951) Gertie (1952 play) The Girl's Journey (1954) The Chalk Garden (1955, play) The Last Joke (1960, play) The Chinese Prime Minister (1964, play) A Matter of Gravity (original title Call Me Jacky; 1967, play) Autobiography (1969) Poems (1978) Letters to Frank Harris & Other Friends (1980) Early