Louis de Bernières
Louis de Bernières was born in 1954, into a military family, and flown out to Jordan in a bomber. At the age of eight he was sent to Grenham House in Kent, a prep school run by two headmasters, one of them a paedophile and the other a sadist. He became fluent in Latin. Then he went to Bradfield College in Berkshire where he spent a lot of time fishing, and working for a local farmer when he was supposed to be doing sports. He then spent four months failing to become an army officer at Sandhurst, when what he really wanted to do was grow his hair long and play the guitar. In disgrace, he fled to Colombia where he worked as a tutor on a ranch belonging to an Englishman who also turned out to be a paedophile. He learned to ride western style, use a lasso, and round up cattle.
He came home and studied philosophy at Manchester University, financing it by working as a landscape gardener. Afterwards he worked variously as hospital porter, landscape gardener, mechanic in a bent Morris Minor garage in East London, philosophy tutor, carpenter, motorcycle messenger, and English and Drama teacher in Ipswich. He trained to be a teacher in Leicester, and won a masters with distinction at the Institute of Education in London. He worked with truants in Battersea until his third novel was published and he was earning the same by writing as he had been as a teacher.
Photo of Louis de Bernières in his office
He lives in Norfolk with his two children Robin and Sophie, and four cats, only one of whom was acquired on purpose. He accumulates clutter and has one craze after another, like Mr.Toad. His recurring crazes are writing, music, golf, cooking, falling in love, fishing, car mechanics, and gardening. His craze at time of writing is restoring antique rifles. He has been made patron of several charities, all of which have collapsed very soon afterwards. He has campaigned for the right of children to have proper relationships with both parents after separation. He has travelled all over the world at other peoples’ expense. For ten years he was with the Antonius Players, performing music and poetry, and writes and performs his own songs.
He has written every book he ever intended to write when he started out in the nineties, but probably has a few more left in him. He intends to write more poetry and become more grumpy, reactionary and unreasonable as he gets older. He hopes to meet his end by being shot through the heart by a jealous lover at the age of ninety six.