Chitty’s first literary success was in a competition run by the New Statesman to write the first 150 words of a Graham Greene novel. Chitty won, while Greene himself admitted that 2nd, 3rd and 4th place were all taken by entries he had submitted under pseudonyms.
This is nothing compared with the case of John Osborne who in the early 70’s saw a New Statesman parody competition for an excerpt from a new play of his, duly sent one in ,(which had already been performed) and did n’t even get published. His rage and sarcasm at the time was inspirational.