Stanley Middleton

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

(1 August 1919 – 25 July 2009) was a British novelist.

Life

He was born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, in 1919 and educated at High Pavement School, Stanley Road, Nottingham, and later at University College Nottingham. Middleton started writing while at university and in 1958 published ''A Short Answer''. Alongside his work as an author, he taught English at High Pavement Grammar School for many years. In 1974, his novel ''

Holiday A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tra ...

'' won the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

. In 2008, ''Her Three Wise Men'' was published, his 44th novel and the last to be published during his lifetime. Middleton was an accomplished organist, playing regularly at St Mark's Methodist Church on Ravensworth Road in Bulwell and stepping in to cover others, often at Mansfield Road Baptist Church in Nottingham. He was also a fine watercolourist and contributed his own artwork to the covers of the 1994 novel '' Catalysts'' and the festschrift ''Stanley Middleton At Eighty''. In 2006, a reporter for '' The Sunday Times'' sent the first chapters of ''Holiday'' to a number of publishers and literary agents as a journalistic stunt. Almost all rejected it. The actor Peter Bowles was taught by Middleton while a pupil at High Pavement. In 1980 when Bowles was the subject of the popular TV programme ''

This Is Your Life This Is Your Life may refer to: Television * ''This Is Your Life'' (American franchise), an American radio and television documentary biography series hosted by Ralph Edwards * ''This Is Your Life'' (Australian TV series), the Australian versio ...

'', Middleton appeared as a guest on the programme. Middleton was married to Margaret Welch from 1951 until his death; the couple had two daughters, Penny and Sarah. Towards the end of his life, he suffered from cancer, and died in a nursing home on 25 July 2009, one week before his 90th birthday. It has been revealed that Middleton refused an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1979. This came to light following a freedom of information request by the BBC. He did not feel that he should be honoured simply for doing what he regarded as his job.

Bibliography

Fiction * ''A Short Answer'' (1958) * ''Harris's Requiem'' (1960) * ''A Serious Woman'' (1961) * ''The Just Exchange'' (1962) * ''Two's Company'' (1963) * ''Him They Compelled'' (1964) * ''Terms of Reference'' (1966) * ''The Golden Evening'' (1968) * ''Wages of Virtue'' (1969) * ''Apple of the Eye'' (1970) * ''Brazen Prison'' (1971) * ''Cold Gradations'' (1972) * ''A Man Made of Smoke'' (1973) * ''

'' (1974) * ''Distractions'' (1975) * ''Still Waters'' (1976) * ''Ends and Means'' (1977) * ''Two Brothers'' (1978) * ''In a Strange Land'' (1979) * ''The Other Side'' (1980) * ''Blind Understanding'' (1982) * ''Entry into Jerusalem'' (1983) * ''The Daysman'' (1984) * ''Valley of Decision'' (1985) * ''An After-Dinner's Sleep'' (1986) * ''After a Fashion'' (1987) * ''Recovery'' (1988) * ''Vacant Places'' (1989) * ''Changes and Chances'' (1990) * ''Beginning to End'' (1991) * ''A Place to Stand'' (1992) * ''Married Past Redemption'' (1993) * ''Catalysts'' (1994) * ''Toward the Sea'' (1995) * ''Live and Learn'' (1996) * ''Brief Hours'' (1997) * ''Against the Dark'' (1998) * ''Necessary Ends'' (1999) * ''Small Change'' (2000) * ''Love in the Provinces'' (2002) * ''Brief Garlands'' (2004) * ''Sterner Stuff'' (2005) * ''Mother's Boy'' (2006) * ''Her Three Wise Men'' (2008) * ''A Cautious Approach'' (2010) Non-fiction * ''Stanley Middleton at Eighty'' (1999). Edited by David Belbin & John Lucas, this ''festschrift'' includes short stories, essays by and about Middleton and a long interview with the author.

References

External links

"Stanley Middleton"
obituary, ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'', 30 July 2009. * Philip Davis
"Stanley Middleton"
obituary, ''The Guardian'', 29 July 2009. * http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/document2012-01-24-075439.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Stanley 1919 births 2009 deaths 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists Alumni of the University of Nottingham Booker Prize winners Deaths from cancer in England Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Nottingham High Pavement Grammar School People from Bulwell