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{{Short description|British author (1916–1981)}}
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[[File:Robin Maugham Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|alt=A middle-aged man sits holding a drink.|right|Robin Maugham in 1974, by [[Allan Warren]]]]
'''Robert Cecil Romer Maugham, 2nd Viscount Maugham''' (17 May 1916 – 13 March 1981), known as '''Robin Maugham''', was a British author.
Trained as a [[barrister]], he served with distinction in the [[Second World War]], and wrote a successful [[novella]], ''[[The Servant (1963 film)|The Servant]]'', later filmed with [[Dirk Bogarde]] and [[
==Family background==
Maugham was the son of [[Frederic Maugham, 1st Viscount Maugham]], and Helen Romer.<ref name = "RobinMaughamODNB"/> Educated at [[Eton College]] and [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]],<ref name = "RobinMaughamODNB"/> he was expected to follow his father and grandfather into the law. But although he qualified as a barrister, he realised that his real calling was to follow his uncle [[W. Somerset Maugham]] as a writer. He also responded against his elite background, turning socialist as a reaction to the spread of [[fascism]] in 1930s Europe.
==War service==
When the Second World War looked inevitable, he declined a commission in the Hussars and instead joined up as an ordinary trooper in the [[4th County of London Yeomanry]] tank regiment bound for North Africa. Later, his commanding officer Brigadier Carr recorded in dispatches that Robin Maugham had saved the lives of perhaps 40 men by pulling them from destroyed tanks. At the [[Battle of Gazala]] he sustained a severe head wound that resulted in blackouts, which he later joked made him perfect material for a job in intelligence.
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==Literary career==
Disillusioned by politics,
▲Disillusioned by politics, he turned his mind to writing. His first professional dramatic work appeared at the Chanticleer Theatre in South Kensington (1944). This was followed by a novel, ''Come to Dust'' (Chapman & Hall 1945), written in a hospital bed as a cathartic release from the traumas of war. His first major success came with the publication of a novella entitled ''The Servant'' (Falcon Press 1948), on which was based the classic film ''[[The Servant (1963 film)|The Servant]]'' directed by Joseph Losey, starring [[Dirk Bogarde]] and [[James Fox]].
After his father died in 1958, he took the title of 2nd Viscount Maugham. His maiden speech in the House of Lords on slavery alerted the world to the continued existence of human trafficking. From this came his book ''The Slaves of Timbuktu'' (Longmans 1961). At the height of his
There has been a
[[File:Viscount Maugham 3 Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A smiling middle-aged man holds a small dog.|Maugham in 1974]]
==Personal life==
Described as "
▲{{more citations needed section|date=May 2017}}
▲Described as "unashamedely [[homosexual]]",<ref name = "RobinMaughamODNB">{{Cite ODNB|id=60668|title=Maugham, Robert Cecil Romer [Robin], second Viscount Maugham|first = Michael| last = De-la-Noy| authorlink = Michael De-la-Noy}}</ref> Maugham never married, and the viscountcy became extinct upon his death. He died from a [[pulmonary embolism]], compounded by long-standing [[diabetes mellitus]],<ref>P. Newley, ''The Krays and Bette Davis'' (Authors OnLine Ltd., 2006), p. 60.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> although an official cause of death was difficult to obtain as his body was apparently lost for forty-eight hours after his death.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} He had three sisters: Kate, Honor, and novelist Diana Marr-Johnson (1908–2007). He is buried in [[Hartfield]], Sussex, next to his parents.<ref name = "RobinMaughamODNB"/>
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 a candid, critically acclaimed, [[autobiography]], ''[[Escape from the Shadows]]'' (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1972), and then a sequel, ''Search for Nirvana'' (W. H.
==Death==
[[File:Maugham Achievement.png|thumb|upright|Lord Maugham's achievement of arms, depicted at [[Lincoln's Inn]] and the [[Palace of Westminster]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/baz_manning/21664387603/in/album-72157659963928316/ |publisher=Baz Manning |accessdate=18 December 2020 |title= Lincoln's Inn Great Hall, Ec41 Maugham, F |date=13 July 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/baz_manning/12453060835/in/album-72157640816935903/ |title= Lord Chancellors, printed paper office corridor (3) |date= 11 April 2011 |publisher=Baz Manning |accessdate=22 November 2020}}</ref>]]
In the last five years of his life, with the impact of the new movement of [[working class]] realism, his popularity began to diminish{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} and his health deteriorated. Maugham died in [[Brighton]] in 1981, aged 64.<ref name = "RobinMaughamODNB"/> He died from a [[pulmonary embolism]], compounded by long-standing [[diabetes mellitus]],<ref>P. Newley, ''The Krays and Bette Davis'' (Authors OnLine Ltd., 2006), p. 60.<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> although an official cause of death was difficult to obtain as his body was apparently lost for forty-eight hours after his death.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}} He is buried in [[Hartfield]], Sussex, next to his parents.<ref name = "RobinMaughamODNB"/>
==Missing diaries==
In November 1991 it was discovered that 24 of the author's chronicles which dated back to the war years, his friendship with [[Winston Churchill]] and his time in British Intelligence, had mysteriously disappeared from the home of one of the executors of his estate. The disappearance of
After
==Works==
===Novels===
*''The Servant'' (1948)
*''Line on Ginger'' (1949; used for the film ''[[The Intruder (1953 film)|The Intruder]]'')
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*''The Man with Two Shadows'' (1958)
*''November Reef'' (1962)
*''The Green Shade'' (1966)
*''The Wrong People'' (1967)
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*''The Barrier'' (1973)
*''The Sign'' (1974)
*''Knock on Teak'' (1976)
*''Lovers in Exile'' (1977)
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*''Refuge'' (1980, unpublished{{citation needed|date=January 2019}})
*''The Deserters'' (1981)
===Collections===
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===Plays, speeches, television and radio===
*1955: ''The Leopard'' (play) set in [[Tanganyika (territory)|Tanganyika]]. [[Connaught Theatre]], Worthing
*1956: ''Mister Lear'' (play) Connaught Theatre, Worthing
*1957: ''Rise Above It'' (Television) Produced by ABC. BBC Productions
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*1969: ''Enemy'' (play) [[Saville Theatre]], London
*1981: ''A Question of Retreat'' (play) Nightingale Theatre, Brighton; also adapted for a Radio 4, BBC production
1989: “The Servant” Bayview Theatre, Toronto. Starting Keir Dullea and David Ferry.
==References==
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* Maugham, Robin. ''Escape from the Shadows'', Hodder and Stoughton (1972; reprinted 5 November 1981), {{ISBN|0860720543}}/{{ISBN|978-0860720546}}
* {{cite web|url=http://research.hrc.utexas.edu:8080/hrcxtf/view?docId=ead/00088.xml|title=Maugham, Robin: An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center|publisher=[[The University of Texas at Austin]]|accessdate=10 October 2011}}
* McLoughlin, Leslie: ''In a Sea of Knowledge''—a history of British Arabists in the 20th century (
== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadID=00088 Robin Maugham Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
* {{IMDb name | id=0560855 | name=Robin Maugham}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Frederic Maugham, 1st Viscount Maugham|Frederic Maugham]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Viscount Maugham]]|years=1958–1981}}
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[[Category:Viscounts Maugham|2]]
[[Category:Maugham family|Robin Cecil Romer Maugham, 2nd Viscount Maugham]]
[[Category:LGBT writers from England]]▼
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
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[[Category:20th-century British novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century British dramatists and playwrights]]
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[[Category:British male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Deaths from pulmonary embolism]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:LGBTQ military personnel]]
[[Category:20th-century British LGBTQ people]]
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