Laurie Lee

Laurence Edward Alan ('Laurie') Lee

Sitter in 15 portraits
Lee is best known for his autobiography, Cider With Rosie (1959), a vivid account of his Cotswolds childhood following the First World War. He left school aged fifteen, and in 1934 moved from Gloucestershire to London. He wrote poetry while working as a labourer and spending his evenings in Soho cafés. Lee also worked as a journalist, a scriptwriter and a documentary film-maker for the GPO. He published his first volume of poetry, The Sun My Monument, in 1944. Lee's travels in Spain during the 1930s and 40s are reflected in several of his works, including As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991), which presents a vivid depiction of a young man's experiences fighting as a Republican volunteer against Franco's forces.