Jimmy Chinn was born in Middleton, Manchester and came to London in 1959 to train as an actor at RADA. His short and very undistinguished career as an actor led him eventually to train as a teacher at Whitelands College. Putney, where he gained a degree in English and Drama. He taught and was a Housemaster at a Comprehensive School in Middlesex until becoming a full-time writer in 1984.
Encouraged by the success of a handful of radio plays, including From here to the Library (which was later adapted for the stage), Too long an Autumn (with Brenda Bruce), A Woman who Does (with Martin Jarvis) and A Different Way Home (starring Bernard Cribbins), he began to write for the stage.
Most of his work for the theatre was premiered by Teddington Theatre Club at Hampton Court Theatre or on the London Fringe. His full-length plays include Our Linda Our Carol and Freda (bought by Yorkshire Television for whom Jimmy also wrote episodes of Emmerdale), In Room Five Hundred and Four, To the Island, After September and a play based on his own boyhood experiences in the North, Albert Make Us Laugh.
In 1992 he had his first West End production. Straight & Narrow opened on 18th March at Wyndham's Theatre starring Nicholas Lyndhurst and Carmel McSharry. The photograph is from around this time.
And he also has a Wikipedia page.
See doollee.com for a list of his stage plays.
Last updated 7th August 2021.
Too Long an Autumn (1990)
From here to the Library (1997)
After September (1998)