Sir Angus Wilson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson[1] (1913-08-11)11 August 1913[2] Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex,[2] England |
| Died | 31 May 1991(1991-05-31) (aged 77)[2] Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk,[2] England |
| Resting place | West Suffolk Crematorium, Risby, St Edmundsbury Borough, Suffolk, United Kingdom |
| Education | Westminster School |
| Alma mater | Merton College, Oxford |
| Period | 1949–1986 |
| Notable works | Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1956) The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot (1958) |
| Notable awards | James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1958) CBE (1968) Knight Bachelor (1980) |
| Partner | Tony Garrett |
Sir Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson,CBE (11 August 1913 – 31 May 1991) was an English novelist and short story writer. He was one of England's first openly gay authors.[3] He was awarded the 1958James Tait Black Memorial Prize forThe Middle Age of Mrs Eliot and later received aknighthood for his services to literature.[4]
Wilson was born inBexhill, Sussex, England, to an English father, William Johnstone-Wilson, and South African mother, Maude (née Caney), of a wealthy merchant family ofDurban.[5][6][7] Wilson's grandfather had served in a prestigious Scottish army regiment, and owned an estate inDumfriesshire, where William Johnstone-Wilson (despite being born atHaymarket) was raised, and where he subsequently lived.[6][7]
Wilson was educated atWestminster School andMerton College, Oxford,[8] and in 1937 became a librarian in theBritish Museum's Department of Printed Books, working on the new General Catalogue.[5] Previous employment included tutoring, catering, and co-managing a restaurant with his brother.[9]
During World War II, he worked in the Naval section at the code-breaking establishment,Bletchley Park, translating Italian Naval codes. A wearer of large, brightly coloured bow-ties and shirts, Sinclair McKay described him as one of the "famous homosexuals" at Bletchley. He was billeted with a "kind family" in the village ofSimpson, who worried about his "prodigious consumption" of cigarettes by coughing theatrically. They only read (and re-read)John Bunyan'sThe Holy War. The "claustrophobia" of the billet may have contributed to his increasing depression and his "Pompeiian mood swings". The work situation was stressful and led to a nervous breakdown, for which he was treated byRolf-Werner Kosterlitz. A colleague said when he threw an inkpot at a Wren that "Angus isn't really mad. He threw inkpots at all the right people!"[10]
AWren, Dorothy Robertson, was taughttraffic analysis by Wilson and another instructor. She recalled him as:[11]
a brilliant young homosexual .... He used to mince into the room wearing, in those days, outrageous clothes in all colours; he chain-smoked; his nails were bitten down to the quick and he had a rather hysterical laugh.
Wilson returned to the Museum after the end of the war, and it was there that he met Tony Garrett (born 1929), who was to be his companion for the rest of his life. Years later their life together was sympathetically portrayed in the BBC2 film "Angus and Tony" (1984), directed byJonathan Gili. It was one of the first depictions of the life of a gay couple on British television.[citation needed]
Wilson's first publication was a collection of short stories,The Wrong Set (1949), followed quickly by the daring novelHemlock and After, which was a great success, prompting invitations to lecture in Europe.[12]
Wilson worked as a reviewer, and in 1955 he resigned from the British Museum to write full-time (although his financial situation did not justify doing so) and moved toSuffolk.[citation needed]
He was instrumental in gettingColin Wilson's first novel published in 1956[13] and from 1957 he gave lectures further afield, in Japan, Switzerland, Australia, and the USA. He was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the1968 New Year Honours,[14] and received many literary honours in succeeding years. He was made aKnight Bachelor in the1980 Birthday Honours,[15] and was President of theRoyal Society of Literature from 1982 to 1988. His remaining years were affected by ill health, and he died of a stroke at a nursing home inBury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 31 May 1991, aged 77.[2]
Wilson's writing, which has a stronglysatirical vein, expresses his concern with preserving a liberalhumanistic outlook in the face of fashionable doctrinaire temptations. Several of his works were adapted for television. He was Professor of English Literature at theUniversity of East Anglia from 1966 to 1978,[16] and jointly helped to establish theircreative writing course at master's level in 1970,[17] which was then a groundbreaking initiative in the United Kingdom.[5]
Wilson's medals, then in private ownership, were shown on the BBC Television programmeAntiques Roadshow in August 2018.[18]
