Evelyn Waugh was an English author of literary fiction and non-fiction books, born on October 28, 1903, in London, England, and died on April 10, 1966, near Taunton, Somerset. He was the son of a successful publisher, Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, and went to Lancing College and later Hertford College, Oxford. However, he did not graduate from Oxford. Instead, he pursued various career paths, including working as a schoolmaster and an apprentice cabinet maker, before turning to writing full-time.
Waugh's father and brother, Alec, were also writers, and his brother's book, "The Loom of Youth," led to Evelyn's expulsion from his boarding school, Sherborne. He was then placed at Lancing College, where he claimed that the whole focus of English class was to produce prose writers. This experience, along with his time at Hertford College, Oxford, where he studied History, shaped his writing style and themes.
Waugh's career as a writer took off in 1928 when he published his first novel, "Decline and Fall." He married Evelyn Gardiner in the same year, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1930. This period of his life served as inspiration for his novel "A Handful of Dust." In 1931, he converted to Catholicism, which became a significant influence in his later works, such as "Brideshead Revisited" and "The Loved One." Waugh's writing was known for its sardonic wit and technical brilliance, earning him recognition as one of the greatest satirical novelists of his day. He served in the Royal Marines and Royal Horse Guards during World War II, which also influenced his writing, particularly in his "Sword of Honour Trilogy." Waugh died on April 10, 1966, at the age of 62.