Tom Sharpe
| Tom Sharpe | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas Ridley Sharpe 30 March 1928 Holloway, London |
| Died | 6 June 2013 (aged 85) Llafranc, Catalonia, Spain |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | English |
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge |
| Notable works | Wilt series, Porterhouse Blue, Blott on the Landscape |
Thomas Ridley Sharpe (30 March 1928 – 6 June 2013) was an English satirical novelist, best known for his Wilt series, as well as Porterhouse Blue and Blott on the Landscape, which were both adapted for television.
Born in 1928 in Holloway, London, Sharpe graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge, moved to South Africa for ten years and was then deported for sedition for speaking out against apartheid. He returned to England to lecture before spending time between the UK and Spain, writing a series of novels. He died in 2013 from complications of diabetes. His ashes were interred in the graveyard at the remote church in Thockrington, Northumberland, where his father had been a preacher.
Sharpe was born in Holloway, London, and brought up in Croydon. Sharpe's father, the Reverend George Coverdale Sharpe, was a Unitarian minister who was active in far-right politics in the 1930s. He was chairman of the Acton and Ealing branch of The Link, and a member of the Nordic League. He declared that he hated Jews "in the sense that he hated all corruption". Sharpe initially shared some of his father's views, but was horrified on seeing films of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Sharpe was educated at Bloxham School, on which he based Groxbourne in Vintage Stuff, followed by Lancing College. He then did National Service in the Royal Marines before going to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he studied history and social anthropology.
...
Wikipedia