Sunday 10 March 2013

John Wyndham - Great British Science Fiction Writer


John Wyndham 1903 - 1969

John Wyndham was born in Warwickshire England, UK in 1903. His parents separated at an early age and he went to several different boarding schools. In his time, he wrote some wonderful science fiction stories, two of which, I can remember reading during our GCE curriculum at secondary school. Our English lit teacher was great and had us all take part in reading sessions so the whole class got engrossed in the stories. We did 'Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids' each by John Wyndham. I was blown away by the world created in The Chrysalids and thought it could not be beaten - such was my enjoyment of this story. I have read it several times science.

Later I was delighted to find another John Wyndham story that bettered even this. It is The Midwich Cuckoos. I saw the book on display so many times when I visited book shops and new it was not set in any type of post apocalyptic world. So I kept putting it back on the shelf for years, until one day, I decided to take the plunge and purchase a copy. 

Oh my - what a delightful surprise. It is so well written and I could not put the book down. It was great and surpassed even the very enjoyable 'The Chrysalids.'


John Wyndham died in 1969 aged 65. He has had many of his stories made into movies and tv series.      

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