Novelist, born in London, UK. He studied at Cambridge and did his National Service in the Marines before going to South Africa in 1951, from where he was deported in 1961after being imprisoned for his anti-apartheid views. He was a lecturer in history at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology (1963–71) before turning to full-time writing, beginning with Riotous Assembly (1971). Later novels include Indecent Exposure (1973), Porterhouse Blue (1974), a series introducing the character of Wilt (from 1976), The Midden (1996), and Wilt in Nowhere (2004).

Tom Sharpe (born March 30, 1928) is an English satirical author, born in London and educated at Lancing College and at Pembroke College, Cambridge. From 1963 until 1972 he was a History lecturer at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology, which inspired his "Wilt" series Wilt, The Wilt Alternative, Wilt on High and Wilt in Nowhere.

His novels feature bitter and outrageous satire of the apartheid regime (Riotous Assembly and its sequel Indecent Exposure), dumbed-down education (the Wilt series), English class snobbery (Ancestral Vices, Porterhouse Blue), the literary world (The Great Pursuit), political extremists of all stripes, political correctness, bureaucracy and stupidity in general.

Bradbury also adapted Porterhouse Blue in four episodes in 1987, this time for Channel 4, starring David Jason, Ian Richardson and John Sessions, directed by Robert Knights.

A film of Wilt was made in 1989, scripted by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick and starring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones with Alison Steadman and Diana Quick.

Bibliography

URL: http://encyclopedia.stateuniversity.com/pages/22362/Tom-Sharpe.html
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