The birth of Inspector Morse

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

The scraps of paper on which the very first Inspector Morse novel was penned are tipped to sell for £50,000. Crime author Colin Dexter wrote the opening paragraphs to his inaugural book featuring the famous detective while he was killing time on a rainy holiday in Wales in 1972.

With no typewriter, Dexter wrote  the first passages of his debut novel, Last Bus To Woodstock with a ballpoint pen in long-hand on sheets of paper. The 280-page manuscript, which was published in 1975, shows Dexter's writing in different coloured pens as he sets about tightening up the plot and changing passages.

Creating a legend by hand: The scraps of paper on which Inspector Morse was first created are set to fetch £50,000 at auction. With no typewriter to hand Dexter wrote out the opening passages of his debut novel Last Bus to Woodstock in longhand on sheets of paper

John Thaw (1942-2002) won legions of fans as Inspector Morse, which was created for ITV and closely followed the novels by Colin Dexter, which introduced Morse with: 'It was one night...'

Dexter started on the book in 1972.
In a previous interview he said: 'We were in a little guest house halfway between Caernarfon and Pwllheli. It was a Saturday and it was raining - it's not unknown for it to rain in North Wales.
'The children were moaning. I was sitting at the kitchen table with nothing else to do, and I wrote the first few paragraphs of a potential detective novel.'
As he worked, Dexter - keen to keep readers on their toes - removed the name of a character called Jennifer from the opening to keep her true identity a mystery until the end of the novel.
Another alteration he made was to go back and change the introduction of Inspector Morse himself to make the detective's entrance more low-key.

 The novel was adapted for the famed TV series Inspector Morse who was played by the late actor John Thaw and was broadcast in 1988.

Dexter gave the original draft of his first Morse book to a friend in his local pub.
A private UK collector came into possession of it several years ago and has now decided to sell it at auction in London.
The document has hundreds of annotations and corrections made by Dexter at the time. Dr Gabriel Heaton, a literary expert at auctioneers Sotheby's, said: 'Dexter started writing it while he was bored on a rainy holiday in Wales.

'It is the original manuscript of the first Morse novel, it is the moment Morse first emerges from Dexter's imagination.
'It is an important moment in crime fiction. There are very few detectives in crime fiction in recent years who are as instantly recognisable as Morse.'

Colin Dexter who wrote the first novel by hand

 

He added: 'This manuscript is fascinating because it is all written in long-hand and not on a typewriter like so many others we see.
The hit TV adaptation of the novels, which also starred Kevin Whately as Morse's sidekick Lewis ran from 1987 to 2000.
The Last Bus To Woodstock is about the murder of a young woman who accepts a lift while waiting for a bus. The novel then centres on the prime suspect, an Oxford don who was having an affair with the victim, gave her the lift but did not kill her.
The manuscript will be sold at the Sotheby's auction on Wednesday.