In 1948 Anthony Burgess began a teaching job as a lecturer in speech and drama at Bamber Bridge Emergency Training College, near Preston in Lancashire. He trained teachers as part of the post-war project to turn ex-servicemen into schoolmasters, and they were given an intensive one-year course: Burgess gave courses in the history of drama […]

Anthony (John to us) was my tutor of Language and Literature at Bamber Bridge Emergency Training College for Teachers, near Preston, in its final year ending in May 1950. I worked closely with him as actor, stage manager, and producer in many college Dramatic productions, and acted as Methusela in his production of Nigel Balchin’s […]

This picture, taken in Chiswick, shows Burgess with his border collie, Haji. Burgess and his first wife Lynne acquired their dog when they moved to Etchingham in 1960, where they also had a cat and kittens. According to Burgess, Haji was not the perfect pet: ‘He was crafty, disobedient, and ignorant of the sexual life, […]