Alan Williams (novelist)
Alan Emlyn Williams (born 28 August 1935) is an ex-foreign correspondent, novelist and writer of thrillers. He was educated at Stowe, Grenoble and Heidelberg Universities, and at King's College, Cambridge where he graduated in 1957 with a B.A. in modern languages. His father was the actor and writer Emlyn Williams. Noël Coward was his godfather. His younger brother Brook (1938–2005) was also an actor.
Williams was briefly married to literary agent Maggie Noach (pronounced "NO-ack") (1949–2006). Together they compiled The Dictionary of Disgusting Facts.
Journalist Philippa Toomey describes him as a "talented and funny mimic with a gift for words and a stock of tales from the shaggy Express story to the grimmer side of international journalism."
He has three children. Owen was born in 1977 and Laura in 1980 with his wife at the time, Antonia (née Simpson). He then married Maggie Noach and their daughter Sophie was born in 1989.
Read more about Alan Williams (novelist): Journalism, and Adventures Behind The Iron Curtain, Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward, Critical Assessment, Film Adaptations
Famous quotes containing the words alan and/or williams:
“It is very considerably smaller than Australia and British Somaliland put together. As things stand at present there is nothing much the Texans can do about this, and ... they are inclined to shy away from the subject in ordinary conversation, muttering defensively about the size of oranges.”
—Alex Atkinson, British humor writer. repr. In Present Laughter, ed. Alan Coren (1982)
“Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. Shakespeare has perhaps 20 players, and Tennessee Williams has about 5, and Samuel Beckett one—and maybe a clone of that one. I have 10 or so, and that’s a lot. As you get older, you become more skillful at casting them.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)