Adam Alexander Dawson

Who was Adam Alexander Dawson?

Adam Dawson was a noted film editor.

Adam Alexander Dawson was born at 33 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, son of Alexander Bashall Dawson and Aileen Twentyman Smithers. He was a descendant of both the Dawson whisky family of St Magdalenes Distillery, Linlithgow, and the Gillon whisky family of Leith.

Dawson was educated at Edinburgh Academy, Stowe School, and The Queen's College, Oxford where he was President of the Oxford University Film Society. He joined the Royal Berkshire Regiment and from 1942 to 1946 he edited and produced many training films for the Army while in India. He subsequently worked for Nettlefold Studios and for the BBC as a Film Editor. While working for the BBC he edited a number of productions, including Z-Cars, Doctor Who and The Benny Hill Show, although he refused to have his name in the credits of the latter. Among his films are Knight Without Armour, The Conquest of the Air, The Glass Mountain, Mother Riley's New Venture, Mister Drake's Duck, A Place in the Country, The World of Coppard, The World His Challenge, The Highland Jaunt and the Doctor Who serial Spearhead from Space.