Tom Sharpe
Ridley Thomas Sharpe, Tom Sharpe, was born in London on March 30, 1928 and he died in Llafranc on June 6, 2013.
Father: George Coverdale Sharpe, Minister of the Unitarian Church, born in England. Mother: Grace Egerton Brown, born in Australia. Satirical novelist and photographer.
He spent the first years of his life in southern England. He was at Bloxham and Lancing boarding schools and was subsequently educated at Pembroke College. He did his military service in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom between 1946-1948.
In July 1951 he moved to South Africa. First he worked as a social worker, later as a teacher and later had a photographic studio in Piétermaritzbürg. During his stay in South Africa he wrote nine plays. In December 1961 he was arrested and deported to Britain for his antiapartheid political activity.
From 1963 to 1972 he worked as a professor of history at the Cambridge College of Arts and TechnoIogy. In 1971 his first satirical novel was published. He wrote a total of 16 books.
In April 1992 he first came to Llafranc.
He received several literary awards: Grand Prix of I’Humour Noir our Forneret in France (1986), Literature Prize Girona Liber Press (2009), Award BBK La Risa de Bilbao (2010).
There have been three theses on the work of Tom Sharpe: Tom Sharpe ecrivain populaire, the farce to l’ironie. Professor Christian Dalzon University of Sorbonne, Paris. Tom Sharpe humor et societe. Professor Dominique Vinet University of Bordeaux, and Der Tabubruch In Den Romanen Tom Sharpes, Christina Rottenbücher, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, 1995.
There have been two books published on Tom Sharpe: Wilt sóc jo, by Llatzer Moix. El humor como máscara del desencanto en las novelas de Tom Sharpe, by Professor Celia Garcia Vazquez. University of Vigo.
