Tom Stoppard, Britain’s foremost twentieth-century playwright, who was called to Buckingham Palace at the age of sixty to be knighted “Sir Tom”, was born Tomáš Straüssler in a small Czech village, on 3rd July 1937. His family was of Jewish descent and, fearing the imminent German invasion, first moved to Singapore in 1939, then took refuge in Darjeeling, India. Unfortunately Tomáš father stayed on in Singapore and was killed during the Japanese invasion. Tomáš’s mother then married in Darjeeling a British Army Major, Kenneth Stoppard. Tom and his brother attended an American school, so when they finally moved to England in 1946, young Tom had already made English his first language and felt immediately at home. Leaving school when he was seventeen, his aim was to become a…
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Citation: Mader, Doris. "Sir Tom Stoppard". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 October 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4249, accessed 21 November 2024.]
