British writer Edward Upward dies at 105

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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

British writer Edward Upward has died at the age of 105. Upward died on Friday, February 13 in Pontefract, England. He was believed to be the UK's oldest living author.

Upward was born Edward Falaise Upward on September 9, 1903 in Romford, England. He attended Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, where, in 1924, he was awarded the Chancellor's Medal for English Verse. He was attending the college on a history scholarship he received in 1922.

Upward joined the communist party in 1932 after the fall of Britain's Labour Party in the summer of 1931. He recalls joining the party because he felt "psychological need" so satisfy his imagination of it. He was convinced his fear of becoming mentally unstable would be cured, because his cousin Allen, who was also an author, killed himself after going crazy. Upward stated he was impressed with his cousin's suicide, because he thought he would die the same way.

Upward's first novel Journey to the Border, was published by the Hogarth Press in 1938. It described in poetic prose, the rebellion of a private tutor against his employer and the menacing world of the 1930s.

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Sources

Learn more about Edward Upward on Wikipedia.

"Edward Upward: writer who illuminated the social turmoil of the 1930s" — Times Online, February 16, 2009
"Author Edward Upward dies, aged 105" — Isle of Wright County Press, February 16, 2009
"Edward Upward" — Telegraph.co.uk, February 15, 2009

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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.