Francis Baker was born at Hornsey in London in 1908, the son of a marine insurance salesman (who had been a chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford) and grandson of an organist at Alexandra Palace.
He then moved to St Just in Penwith, Cornwall, where he had a position of church organist and let holiday rooms in a cottage he shared with Marcus Tippett.
[9] He later adapted it as a stage play, which was produced in London at the Royal Court Theatre Club with Dame Margaret Rutherford in the starring role.
A television opera, ' The Spur of the Moment ', based on the novel, was composed by Guy Halahan with a libretto by Joe Mendoza and broadcast by the BBC in 1959.
[10] Baker became a professional actor and during World War II he toured Britain with Dame Sybil Thorndike, Lewis Casson (whom he understudied) and Paul Scofield.
Baker's 1956 novel Talk of the Devil (set in Zennor, Cornwall) includes a character, Nathanael Sylvester, transparently based on Aleister Crowley.
[11] Baker wrote further novels and short stories, and articles in publications such as The Guardian, Radio Times and Life and Letters.
During their marriage, Baker and his wife moved several times – from Hampstead to Mevagissey, to Surrey, to Perran Downs (Cornwall), to Cardiff, and to Kidderminster.