Terence Rattigan

Terence Mervyn Rattigan was the son of Vera and William Rattigan, and was born just before the coronation of George V. Rattigan’s father was a diplomat and hoped his son would one day work in the civil service. Coming from an upper-middle class background, Rattigan received a typical education, attending Harrow School before enrolling at Oxford. A childhood trip to the theatre brought on an early obsession with the art form; at Harrow, Rattigan devoured the school library’s collection of plays. While at Oxford, Rattigan’s desire to be a playwright was so strong that he dropped out in order to write. Rattigan found relatively early success with the 1936 French Without Tears. When World War 2 came, Rattigan served in the Royal Air Force as a tail gunner. After the war, he had a run of popular and critically well-received plays, such as The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version, firmly establishing him as a major playwright. Not long after, however, his plays fell out of favor as new and younger playwrights – like the “Angry Young Men” – grew dominant. Rattigan continued to work, producing what are now considered some of his best plays. In 1971, Rattigan received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth, only the fourth playwright in the 20th Century to receive the honor. Towards the end of his life, Rattigan saw a revival in popularity in Britain, before dying from bone cancer at the age of 66 in Bermuda.