Francis Wyndham (writer)

Francis Guy Percy Wyndham FRSL (2 July 1924 – 28 December 2017) was an English journalist, novelist, editor, and literary scout. For nearly two decades, he served as a senior editor for The Sunday Times Magazine, where he became a prominent cultural figure by pioneering an "image-first" layout philosophy and introducing popular culture into mainstream broadsheet journalism.

Though his own literary output was sparse, spanning only five published volumes, his pervasive, behind-the-scenes influence shaped 20th-century English literature. He was widely celebrated for discovering V. S. Naipaul, managing the historic literary rediscovery of Jean Rhys, and launching the literary career of Bruce Chatwin. His 1988 novella, The Other Garden, won the prestigious Whitbread First Novel Award when he was 63 years old. In 1999, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).

Early life

A birth member of the Wyndham family, Francis Guy Percy Wyndham was born on 2 July 1924 in St George Hanover Square, London, England. His father, Colonel Guy Percy Wyndham, was a retired military officer and diplomat who had notably fought at the Relief of Ladysmith during the Second Boer War. His father's first wife had died during the post-First World War influenza epidemic, leaving three half-siblings, one of whom, Second Lieutenant George Heremon Wyndham, was killed in action during the First World War. His half-siblings were the painter Richard Wyndham and the photographer Olivia Wyndham.