Literature · Science · Film · 1874–1965
Born: 25 January 1874 · Died: 16 December 1965 · Age at death: 91
William Somerset Maugham died aged 91. He was born on 25 January 1874 and died on 16 December 1965.
English novelist of Of Human Bondage and The Moon and Sixpence, once the highest-paid author in the world
Did you know?During the First World War, he worked as a secret agent for the British Intelligence Service in Russia.
W. Somerset Maugham was one of the most popular storytellers of the 20th century. He was born at the British Embassy in Paris and orphaned by ten. He trained as a doctor in London, and his experience of the slums inspired his first novel. Of Human Bondage drew on his own unhappy youth. During the First World War he worked as a British spy in Switzerland and Russia. His short stories, set in the colonies and the South Seas, are masterpieces of craft.
William Somerset Maugham ( MAWM; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels, and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university.
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Profile
British writer, 1874–1965
Somerset Maugham was born at the British Embassy in Paris on 25 January 1874.
He trained as a doctor at St Thomas'.
Of Human Bondage appeared in 1915.
He lived at the Villa Mauresque on the Riviera.
Career highlights
Did you know?He worked as a British spy in Switzerland and Russia.
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