- The best-selling author was more celebrated in the United States than in England, which may explain why he often described himself as living in exile in his own country.
- He was an only child for the first 15 years of his life. When his sister Hazel was born he had a nervous breakdown and had to leave school for a semester.
- He met his first wife when they were both working as teachers at a private school on a Greek island; she was already married, but he persuaded her to leave her husband and marry him instead. They were an extremely devoted (childless) couple, and her death, which came within a few days of her being diagnosed with a hitherto-unsuspected cancer, came as a great blow to him.
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