Winston Graham
| Winston Graham | |
|---|---|
| Born |
30 June 1908 Victoria Park, Manchester, England |
| Died | 10 July 2003 (aged 95) London, England |
| Spouse | Jean Mary Williamson (1939-1992) |
Winston Mawdsley Graham OBE (30 June 1908 – 10 July 2003) was an English novelist best known for the Poldark series of historical novels set in Cornwall. He also wrote many other novels, including thrillers and historical novels.
Graham was born at 66 Langdale Road, Victoria Park, Manchester on 30 June 1908 at 8 a.m. As a child, Winston contracted pneumonia, and on medical advice was educated at a local day school rather than Manchester Grammar School which his father had in mind for him. Graham's father, Albert Grime, was a prosperous tea importer and grocer, but became incapacitated by a stroke.
When he was 17 years old, Winston moved to Perranporth, Cornwall, where he lived for 34 years. He had wanted to be a writer from an early age and, following the death of his father, he was supported by his mother while he wrote novels at home in longhand and attempted to get them published.
In September 1939, Graham married Jean Williamson, having first met her in 1926 when she was 13 years old. She often was known to help Graham with ideas for his books, and the character of Demelza, in his Poldark series, was based in part on her. Graham's daughter said, “Father was the author but my mother helped with the details because she was very observant. She saw everything and remembered it all." Jean died in 1992.
During his youth, Graham was a keen tennis player and recorded in his diaries how many sets he played each day. He lived in Perranporth from October 1925 until March 1960, then briefly, during the summer of 1960, in the south of France before finally settling in East Sussex. He was chairman of the Society of Authors and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1983, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
...
Wikipedia