Revision 85339924 of "Tom Sharpe" on enwiki

'''Tom Sharpe''' (born [[March 30]], [[1928]]) is an [[England|English]] [[satire|satirical]] [[author]], born in [[London]] and educated at [[Lancing College]] and at [[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-down education (the Wilt series), English class snobbery (''Ancestral Vices'', ''[[Porterhouse Blue]]''), 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. Readers tend to find Sharpe's work either extremely offensive or outrageously funny.

Sharpe's bestselling books have been translated into many languages.

== Screen adaptations ==

''[[Blott on the Landscape]]'' was adapted as a 6-part [[BBC]] [[television]] series in [[1985]], starring [[Geraldine James]], [[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]] 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)

[[Category:1928 births|Sharpe, Tom]]
[[Category:Living people|Sharpe, Tom]]
[[Category:Old Lancing|Sharpe, Tom]]
[[Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge|Sharpe, Tom]]
[[Category:Academics of Anglia Ruskin University|Sharpe, Tom]]
[[Category:English novelists|Sharpe, Tom]]
[[Category:English satirists|Sharpe, Tom]]

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