Editing Stephen Potter (section)

{{Short description|British writer (1900–1969)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
[[File:Stephen-potter-times-obit-photo-1969.jpg|thumb|right|Stephen Potter]]

'''Stephen  Meredith Potter''' (1 February 1900 – 2 December 1969) was a British writer best known for his parodies of self-help books, and their film and television derivatives.

After leaving school in the last months of the [[World War I|First World War]] he was commissioned as a junior officer in the [[British Army]], but by the time he had completed his training the war was over and he was demobilised. He then studied English at [[Oxford University|Oxford]], and after some false starts he spent his early working life as an academic, lecturing in English literature at [[Birkbeck College]], part of the [[University of London]], during which time he published several works on [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]]. Finding his income inadequate to support himself and his family, he left the university and took up a post [[Radio producer|producing]] and writing for the [[BBC]]. He stayed with the BBC until after the [[World War II|Second World War]], when he became a freelance writer, and remained one for the rest of his life.

His series of humorous books on how to secure an unfair advantage began in 1947 with ''[[Gamesmanship]]'', purporting to show how poor players can beat better ones by subtle psychological ploys. This sold prodigiously and led to a series of sequels covering other aspects of life. The books were adapted for the cinema in the 1960s and for television in the 1970s.