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Portrait image of John Fowles Photo: Ulf Andersen / Hulton Archive via Getty Images (1987)

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Fowles, John

John Robert Fowles was born in a middle-class family in the Essex town of Leigh-on-Sea. His father, Robert Fowles, dreamt of a career in the legal profession, but when the First World War broke out he was instead forced to take over the family's tobacco business. His mother, Gladys May, was a housewife. Fowles grew up in the security of a terraced housing estate, but later in life he confessed...

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Portrait image of Margery Allingham Photo by ANL/REX / TT (1955)

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Allingham, Margery

English crime writer born in Ealing, London, as the daughter of Herbert John Allingham and his wife and cousin Emily Jane Hughes. Both parents were writers and journalists who regularly contributed to various weekly magazines. Herbert John was the editor of the New London Journal as well as the Christian Globe.
Margery Allingham grew up in Essex as the oldest of three children. She was...

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