Revision 291206514 of "Tom Sharpe" on enwiki

'''Tom Sharpe''' (born 30 March 1928) is an [[England|English]] [[satire|satirical]] [[author]], born in [[London]] and educated at [[Elmhurst School for Boys]], [[Lancing College]] and [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]]. After [[National Service]] he moved to [[South Africa]] in 1951, doing social work and teaching in [[KwaZulu-Natal Province|Natal]], until [[deportation|deported]] in 1961.

His work in South Africa inspired the [[novel]]s ''Riotous Assembly'' and ''Indecent Exposure''. From 1963 until 1972 he was a History lecturer at the [[Anglia Ruskin University|Cambridge College of Arts and Technology]], which inspired his "Wilt" series ''[[Wilt (novel)|Wilt]]'', ''The Wilt Alternative'', ''Wilt on High'' and ''Wilt in Nowhere''.

His novels feature bitter and outrageous satire of the [[apartheid]] regime (''Riotous Assembly'' and its sequel ''Indecent Exposure''), "dumbed-" or watered-down education (the ''Wilt'' series), English class snobbery (''Ancestral Vices'', ''[[Porterhouse Blue]]'', ''[[Grantchester Grind]]''), the literary world (''The Great Pursuit''), political extremists of all stripes, [[political correctness]], [[bureaucracy]] and stupidity in general. Characters may indulge in bizarre sexual practices, and coarser characters use very graphic and/or profane language in dialogue. Sharpe often parodies the language and style of specific authors commonly associated with the social group held up for ridicule.
Sharpe's bestselling books have been translated into many languages.
He has lived since [[1995]] at [[Llafranc]], a small town on the [[Costa Brava]].

==Screen adaptations==
''[[Blott on the Landscape]]'' was adapted as a 6-part [[BBC]] [[television]] series in 1985, starring [[Geraldine James]], [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]], and [[David Suchet]] as Blott. The script was by [[Malcolm Bradbury]] and the director was [[Roger Bamford]].

Bradbury also adapted ''[[Porterhouse Blue#Adaptations|Porterhouse Blue]]'' in four episodes in 1987, this time for [[Channel 4]], starring [[David Jason]], [[Ian Richardson]], [[Griff Rhys Jones]] and [[John Sessions]], directed by [[Robert Knights]].

A film of ''[[Wilt_(movie)|Wilt]]'' was made in 1989, scripted by [[Andrew Marshall (writer)|Andrew Marshall]] and [[David Renwick]] and starring [[Mel Smith]] and [[Griff Rhys Jones]] with [[Alison Steadman]] and [[Diana Quick]]. The director was [[Michael Tuchner]].

===Bibliography===
*''[[Riotous Assembly]]'' (1971)
*''[[Indecent Exposure]]'' (1973)
*''[[Porterhouse Blue]]'' (1974)
*''[[Blott on the Landscape]]'' (1975)
*''[[Wilt_(novel)|Wilt]]'' (1976)
*''[[The Great Pursuit]]'' (1977)
*''[[The Throwback]]'' (1978)
*''[[The Wilt Alternative]]'' (1979)
*''[[Ancestral Vices]]'' (1980)
*''[[Vintage Stuff]]'' (1983)
*''[[Wilt on High]]'' (1985)
*''[[Grantchester Grind]]'' (1995)
*''[[The Midden]]'' (1996)
*''Wilt Omnibus'' (1996) - a collection of the first three Wilt novels sometimes known as "Wilt in Triplicate"
*''[[Wilt in Nowhere]]'' (2004)
*''[[The Gropes]]'' (forthcoming September 2009)

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[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Old Bloxhamists]]
[[Category:Old Lancing]]
[[Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Academics of Anglia Ruskin University]]
[[Category:English novelists]]
[[Category:English satirists]]
[[Category:Royal Marines officers]]

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