Joan Hunter Dunn the engagement is sheer fantasy, but my life was very like the poem." She married Harold Wycliffe Jackson, a civil servant in the Ministry of Information, in January 1945, at St Mark's Church in Farnborough. Betjeman was invited, but was unable to attend. The poem was republished in Betjeman's book "New Bats in Old Belfries" in 1945, and was later mentioned in Flanders and Swann's "Tried by Centre Court". Joan Jackson accompanied her husband to Malaya after the war, where he ran a radio station. They then lived in Singapore, before returning to the UK in 1957. Harold worked for
The Miss Firecracker Contest producing a positive message about self-confidence, courage, perseverance, and compassion pleased critics, who praised Henley for her quirky characters and warm messages. The play's popularity allowed for the production of "Miss Firecracker," the film version of this play, which was produced in 1989 directed by Thomas Schlamme and starring Holly Hunter. Hunter has been cast in many of Henley's plays in addition to "The Miss Firecracker Contest". The Miss Firecracker Contest The Miss Firecracker Contest is a Southern literature play written by Beth Henley. It was originally produced in Los Angeles in 1980 at the Victory Theater directed by Maria