John Robert Fowles (1926-2005), Writer

Sitter in 3 portraits
Novelist born in Leigh-on-Sea and educated at Edinburgh University and New College, Oxford, where he studied French and German. A master of layered story-telling, illusionism and ambiguous endings, he has worked in a variety of genres from psychological thriller, The Collector (1963) to mythological magic realism, The Magus (1966). His semi-historical novel, The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) was made into a film in 1981, directed by Karel Reisz with Meryl Streep in the title role and screenplay by Harold Pinter.