Personal and Family Life
Described as "defiantly homosexual", but in fact bisexual, Lord Maugham never married, and the viscountcy became extinct upon his death. He died from a pulmonary embolism, compounded by long-standing diabetes mellitus, though an official cause of death was difficult to obtain as his body was apparently lost for forty-eight hours after his death. He had three sisters: Kate, Honor, and the novelist Diana Marr-Johnson (1908–2007). He is buried in Hartfield, Sussex, next to his parents.
Maugham bought the merchant ship MV Joyita as a hulk in the early 1960s, writing about the mystery of the incident in his book The Joyita Mystery (1962). The ship had been lost at sea only to reappear five weeks later after a massive search found nothing, without crew or passengers, and with four tons of cargo missing.
He wrote an autobiography, Escape from the Shadows (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1972), and then a sequel Search for Nirvana (1975) and books about his uncle, as well as many other novels and plays.
Read more about this topic: Robin Maugham, 2nd Viscount Maugham
Famous quotes containing the words family life, personal, family and/or life:
“Fathers should be neither seen nor heard. That is the only proper basis for family life.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Impartial. Unable to perceive any promise of personal advantage from espousing either side of a controversy.”
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914)
“With all the attention paid to your new baby, it’s easy for your own feelings and needs to get lost in the shuffle. Although all parents engage in some self-sacrifice for their children, keep in mind that your goal isn’t just to raise a happy, healthy child. You want that child to be part of a happy, healthy family as well.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“What makes saintliness in my view, as distinguished from ordinary goodness, is a certain quality of magnanimity and greatness of soul that brings life within the circle of the heroic.”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)