This first full biography of Sir Angus Wilson charts a meteoric career as novelist, critic, lecturer and man of letters. His first volume of stories, The Wrong Set (1949), launched Wilson as one of the most controversial, colourful and entertaining figures on the post-war literary scene, and he rapidly developed into a major novelist as he grew from enfant terrible to elder statesman. This biography traces the influences of his bizarrely extended family, his years as a librarian at the British Museum - interrupted by a grim spell in the code-breaking huts at Bletchley Park - and his unexpected liberation as a successful writer.An entrancing personality, inspired teacher, a tireless gossip (and a searing mimic), Wilson was an indefatigable traveller from his earliest years, and later an ever-welcome guest on campuses and at literary events around the globe. Both influence and mentor for a younger generation of writers - including Ian McEwan, Rose Tremain and Margaret Drabble herself - he made and maintained an extraordinary range of contacts around the fixed point of his relationship with his friend and companion for forty years, Tony Garrett. Read Less