Anthony Burgess

He married Llewela (Lynne) Isherwood Jones on January 22, 1942. While he was serving the army, his pregnant wife, Lynne was beaten up and raped by American fugitives, which is listed as a possible cause for her eventual miscarriage.

He met Liana Macellari, who was 12 years younger to him, in Chiswick. The two had an affair and Liana gave birth to their son, Paolo Andrea. At the time he was having an affair with Liana, he was still married to Lynne, who died of liver failure four years after the birth of Paolo.

After his first wife’s death, he married Liana in 1968.

John Anthony Burgess Wilson was born in a suburb in Manchester, England. He was raised as a staunch Catholic from a very young age; influences of which were seen in his later works.

Growing up during the Great Depression, he saw a lot of poverty around him. His sister and mother died in 1918 and he was sent to be raised by his maternal aunt.

His father remarried and Burgess moved back to his father to be raised by the newly married couple. By 1938, his father had died from cardiac failure and influenza, leaving no inheritance, showing that the father-son relationship was a strained one.

He studied at St. Edmund’s Roman Catholic Elementary School, Bishop Bilsborrow Memorial Elementary School, Xaverian College and then finally at Victoria University of Manchester, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature, instead of the music degree he wanted to pursue.

In 1940, he spent six weeks as an army novice in Eskbank before he was enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps.

He was very unpopular during this time and was resented by many of his peers. In 1942, however, despite all the antipathy, he was promoted as a sergeant and transferred to the Army Educational Corps.

During his time with the army, he worked as a training college lecturer and was the instructor for the Central Advisory Council for Forces Education. His flair for different languages was noticed during his time with the Army and his skills were used during Dutch interrogations.

He quit the army in 1946 and taught at the Mid-West School of Education near Wolverhampton and at the Bamber Bridge Emergency Teacher Training College for the next four years.

In 1954, he worked as education officer and joined the British Colonial Service in Malaya. He taught at the Malay College, where he was also additionally given the responsibility of being housemaster for children in preparatory school.

One of his novels, largely considered his magnum opus, was published in 1962 and was titled, ‘A Clockwork Orange’. As of 2005, the book was included in ‘Time’ magazine’s list of ‘100 best English-language novels written since 1923’. The book was also included in the list of ‘100 best English-language novels of the 20th century’ named by Modern Library. The book became so famous that it spawned a number of film adaptations including ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Vinyl’.