Montague Rhodes James, (August 1, 1862 - June 12, 1936). A noted medieval scholar and Vice-chancellor of King's College, Cambridge, he is best remembered today for his ghost stories. These were published in a series of collections - Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1911), A Thin Ghost and Others (1919), A Warning to the Curious and other Ghost Stories (1925). H. P. Lovecraft was a great enthusiast for James' stories, rightly regarding them as classics.
The BBC in a long-standing tradition, used to broadcast a reading of one of M.R. James' stories each Christmas.
At least one of his stories, The Casting of the Runes, has been filmed, with the rather more attention-catching title of Night of the Demon (1957); though this was marred by actually showing the dreadful fate of one of the characters, at the hands of a somewhat rubbery demon.
