Born in
Swansea, Griffiths earned a scholarship to the
University of Oxford with the highest entry results in Wales. He studied
Classics at
Trinity College, Oxford. Griffiths did his
National Service in the
Royal Air Force as a Russian linguist with
RAF Intelligence in
West Germany listening to
Soviet Air Force pilots radio transmissions. Griffiths recalled one Russian pilot wishing "A happy Christmas to our British listeners!" Griffith's first screenplay was
Licensed to Kill (1965). After emigrating to Australia, he wrote and story edited extensively for Australian television series, such as the spy series
Hunter (1967), and police shows
Division 4,
Homicide, and
Blue Heelers. From 1975 to 1980 Griffiths was a script editor with the
Australian Broadcasting Commission and received
AWGIE Awards for episodes of
Frank Hardy's
Power Without Glory and
Truckies. Griffith also co-wrote
Becca (1988), an Australian-Welsh television co-production of an 1840s Welshman transported to Australia, as well as writing the teleplay to
Outbreak of Love from the novel by
Martin Boyd. In addition to writing, Griffiths interviewed many survivors of
RAF Bomber Command for the 1987 ABC documentary
Wings of the Storm and donated all his footage to the
Australian War Memorial. Griffiths also held teaching positions with the
Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney and the
Victorian College of the Arts and was a Victorian delegate of the Australian Writers Guild. == References==