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, the ...

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

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Life

He was born in Bulwell,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, 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 or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

'' won the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

. 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 Catalysis () is the increase in reaction rate, rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst ...

'' and the

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

''Stanley Middleton At Eighty''. In 2006, a reporter for ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' 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 Peter John Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English screen and stage actor. He gained prominence for television dramas such as '' Callan: A Magnum for Schneider'' and '' I, Claudius''. He is best remembered for his roles in sit ...

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'', 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, at age 89. It has been revealed that Middleton refused an OBE in 1979. This came to light following a freedom of information request by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. 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 ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'', 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