Terence Rattigan was born on the 10th June, 1911 into a distinguished family. His father, Frank, was a qualified Arabic speaker and was considered to be an unconventional diplomat. When Frank was born, his father, William Rattigan was Chief Justice of the Punjab. When he retired with a knighthood and returned to Britain, Sir William became a Member of Parliament for North-East Lanarkshire. However, despite the social status that the Rattigan’s had achieved over the years, they were not wealthy. They believed in self-reliance and Frank was often sent out with a rifle to find his own food at the age of six. In turn, Frank expected as much from his own sons, Brian and Terence. Due to Frank’s work, for the first few years of Terence’s life, the Rattigan’s were constantly travelling from one country to another; Morocco, Gibraltar, Marseilles, Malta and Egypt.

During these moves, Terence would often be separated from his parents for great lengths of time. In May 1920, he was sent away to Sandroyd, a preparatory boarding school in Surrey. During these early school years, Terence developed his interest in the theatre and during the holidays, would constantly harass his parents to take him to the theatre. He would spend all his pocket money on going to plays and would entertain everyone by reciting names, dates and places connected with the most obscure productions.

After Sandroyd, Terence went to Harrow school, during which time, Frank was forced into early retirement and for the next fifteen years, Terence was never as well off as his peers at school or university. Everything that he desired had to be worked for. It was during this period of difficulty that Rattigan started to have huge pressures piled upon him from his parents. Frank decided that the only thing left for him was to depend on his two sons. Due to a congenital disability, Brian was unsuccessful and a disappointment to Frank particularly in sports. He therefore turned his attention to Terence and imposed all his frustrated ambitions on him. He became determined to make Terence follow in his footsteps and become a diplomat and a sportsman. At the same time, the Rattigan’s marriage began to fall apart.

After Harrow, Terence entered Trinity College at Oxford and there he moved in a theatre crowd to develop his growing interests. His first real play was written and produced in 1934, fittingly titled FIRST EPISODE. His introduction to the theatre community moved quickly to London’s fashionable West End Theatre District.

This move went against his father’s wishes, and feeling that Terence’s was not on the right career path, Frank arranged for him to work for Warner Bros as a screenwriter in order to earn a steady salary. However, Terence did not want such a compromise and persuaded his father to give him the time he knew he needed to become a success. Frank reluctantly agreed to give him 200 pounds a year for two years to try his hand at writing. It was agreed that if it proved a failure, he would enter a more secure profession. It took Terence less than a few months to secure his position as a playwright.

He followed his initial success with one of his more popular plays, FRENCH WITHOUT TEARS, in 1936. This show brought him rave reviews and considerable amount of wealth. Leading a hedonistic lifestyle, spending his money freely, he appeared to be on a path to self-destruct. However, he joined the Royal Air Force in 1940 after Hitler declared war on Great Britain and the rest of Europe and this changed everything.

For the first time in his life, Rattigan found himself surrounded by men from all walks of life. In 1942, he wrote a play about his experiences from the service entitled FLARE PATH. This play solidified the view that many had of Rattigan: “his was the acceptable voice of protest that would not embarrass or annoy those who dictated what was politically or artistically acceptable”.

Terence enjoyed uninterrupted success between the years of 1936 to 1956. With a string of hits including FRENCH WITHOUT TEARS, WHILE THE SUN SHINES, LOVE IN IDELNESS, THE BROWNING VERSION, SEPARATE TABLES, THE WINSLOW BOY and many others. It seemed he could do no wrong. He then tried his hand at screenwriting which brought him huge acclaim; he was nominated for Academy Awards for David Lean’s BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER (1953) and for SEPARATE TABLES (1959), which received seven nominations including Best Picture. In 1959, he won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival for THE BROWNING VERSION.

However, when John Osborne’s play LOOK BACK IN ANGER opened in 1956, the face of British theatre changed forever, leaving Terence out in the cold. Increasingly, his plays were seen as outdated when compared to these new kitchen sink dramas.

In 1957, Terence wrote a play, VARIATION ON A THEME, which became the first play that he openly addressed the issue of his homosexuality. Tragically for him, the play was badly received and proved unsuccessful. Yet, on one account it allowed him to become more open and truthful about his own personal life.

Terence Rattigan was diagnosed with leukaemia in 1962 and after doing little else than waiting for his death, he made a miraculous recovery. Nevertheless, after being away from society for so long, he found himself out of touch with the modern Britain of the sixties and he fell ill again in 1968.

Feeling out of touch with British culture and with his declining health, Rattigan decided to leave Britain and move to Bermuda. He lived the rest of his days there and rarely returned to England. However, he lived to see a large number of successful revivals of his plays and in 1971; he received the acknowledgement that he longed for with a knighthood from the Queen.

On Wednesday, 30th November 1977, Terence Rattigan lost his fight with illness and died in Bermuda. In death, Rattigan became a national figure, untouchable as he was in his youth, at the height of his popularity, by the press and public alike.