(William) Denis Johnston (18 June 1901 – 8 August 1984) was an Irish writer. Born in Dublin, he wrote mostly plays, but also works of literary criticism, a book-length biographical essay of Jonathan Swift, a memoir and an eccentric work on cosmology and philosophy. He also worked as a war correspondent, and as both a radio and television producer for the BBC. His first play, The Old Lady Says "No!", helped establish the worldwide reputation of the Dublin Gate Theatre; his second, The Moon in the Yellow River, has been performed around the globe in numerous productions featuring such storied names as James Mason, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains, Barry Fitzgerald, James Coco and Errol Flynn. Later plays dealt with the life of Swift, the 1916 Rebellion, the pursuit of justice, and the fear of death. He wrote two opera libretti and a pageant. Early life Johnston was the only child of William John Johnston from Magherafelt, a barrister (later an Irish Supreme Court judge), and his wife, Kathleen (née King), a teacher and singer from Belfast. They were Presbyterians and liberal home rulers. Johnston was to see the family home in Dublin occupied by rebels during the 1916 Easter rising. Johnston was educated at St Andrew's College, Dublin (1908–15, 1917–19), and Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh (1915–16). In 1918, he attempted to join Sinn Féin, offering to supply the party with weapons taken from his Officer Training Corps. In 1922, while reading history and law at Christ's College, Cambridge (1919–23) he tried to enlist in the civil-war Free State army. He went on to study at the Harvard Law School (1923–4) and entered King's Inns (Dublin) and the Inner Temple (London). In London, developing his interest in the theatre, Johnston abandoned plans for legal and political career. Career Johnston was a protégé of Yeats and Shaw, and had a stormy friendship with Seán O'Casey. He was a pioneer of television and war reporting. He worked as a lawyer in the 1920s and '30s before joining the BBC as a writer and producer, first in radio and then in the fledgling television service. His broadcast dramatic work included both original plays and adaptation of the work of many different writers. "Passionate in his radical scepticism and loathing of what he saw as the pernicious influence of the Roman Catholic Church", at the end of 1933, Johnston joined the trade unionist John Swift,