Early life Lewis was born on 29 March 1898 at 11, Radnor Place,
Birkenhead, then in Cheshire, the only child of Edward Williams Lewis, a Congregational minister, by his marriage to Alice Rigby. His parents had been married at
Runcorn in 1896. After a short time at
Dulwich College, leaving school at the age of seventeen. In 1916, he flew the
Morane Parasol on operations with
No. 3 Squadron and was awarded the
Military Cross for his actions during the
Battle of the Somme. Flying over the battlefield on the
First day on the Somme (1 July 1916) to report on British troop movements, Lewis witnessed the blowing of the
mines at La Boiselle. He later described the early morning scene in his book
Sagittarius Rising. It had been arranged that continuous overlapping patrols would fly throughout the day. Lewis's patrol was ordered "to keep clear of
La Boiselle" because of the mines that were to be blown. As he watched from above the village of
Thiepval, almost two miles from where the mines exploded, Lewis saw a remarkable sight, Lewis's aircraft was hit by lumps of mud thrown out by the explosion. During May and June 1917, when he was flying the
S.E.5a with the elite
56 Squadron, Lewis was credited with eight victories. Back in England, Lewis served with
44 and
61 Squadrons on Home Defence before returning to France in late 1918 with
152 (Night-Fighter) Squadron, flying the
Sopwith Camel, as a
flight commander with the rank of captain. A forty-minute interview with Lewis, describing his experiences as a First World War pilot, was recorded by the BBC in 1963–64 and later made available online as part of the centenary commemorations of the war. In it, Lewis describes how on his first flight he had the most unusual experience of seeing 9-inch howitzer shells turning over in flight at 8,000 feet before descending to the target. He also described his most frightening experience of the war: a reconnaissance flight at 1,000 feet during the initial bombardment before the battle of the Somme. This entailed flying along the line of fire of shells. Close passing shells caused severe turbulence to his aircraft and a number of his friends were killed. He returned to England when the air service project was abandoned by Vickers after a couple of years. With his first wife, he had one son and one daughter. which Ricketts had given him £300 to buy. The other four were
John Reith,
Arthur Burrows,
Stanton Jefferies and
Peter Eckersley. In 1927 he participated in the BBC's first sports broadcasts, assisting commentator
Teddy Wakelam. In 1931, he co-wrote and directed a short film adaptation of the
George Bernard Shaw play
How He Lied to Her Husband. In late 1936 – early 1937 he was a producer and presenter for the infant BBC Television Service at
Alexandra Palace. At the
1938 Academy Awards ceremony, Lewis, Shaw,
Ian Dalrymple and
W. P. Lipscomb were awarded
Oscars for their screen adaptation of
Pygmalion.
Second World War Lewis joined the
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in early 1939 as a
pilot officer and served in the
Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II, rising to the rank of
squadron leader. Bernard Shaw wrote of Lewis: "This prince of pilots has had a charmed life in every sense of the word. He is a thinker, a master of words and a bit of a poet.".
Later life During the late 1940s Lewis became enamoured with the teachings of the Greek-Armenian mystic
Gurdjieff. In 1947 he flew a
Miles Gemini to South Africa, where he spent the next three years on a farm he established, but the farm was not a success, and in 1950 he returned to England. He joined the
Daily Mail in 1956 as a journalist, formally retiring in 1966. This was later made available on the
iPlayer titled "The Great War Interviews". After his last job, Lewis moved to
Corfu, where he spent the rest of his life, continuing to write until well into his nineties. He became the last surviving British
flying ace of the Great War. On 12 May 1991, he appeared on
Desert Island Discs with presenter
Sue Lawley. His chosen discs were: •
Edward Elgar – The Light of Life. •
Georges Bizet – Au fond du temple saint (from The Pearl Fishers). • Greek Singers – A Sergeant Called Stamoulis. •
Richard Strauss – Der Rosenkavalier Act 3. •
Bob Newhart – The Driving Instructor. •
Anna Vissi – Dodekka. •
Gustav Mahler – Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen. •
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Liturgy of St John Chrysostom – The Lord's Prayer. His chosen book to take to the desert island was his own (then recently published)
Sagittarius Surviving. His chosen luxury was a fax machine, which was a debatable choice according to the rules of
Desert Island Discs. ==Private life==