Author. He was a 20th-century British author, who came from a family of authors and publishers. Born Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh, he was educated at Lancing College, Sussex, and attended Hertford College in Oxford for two years. He was not an excellent student. At this point before his literary career, he became an educator in Wales. His first published work was in non-fiction, a biography of painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1928. Later that same year, his first novel, "Decline and Fall," was released and proved successful. The darker, though more popular work, "Vile Bodies," followed two years later. He also contributed to such periodicals as "The Graphic," "Town and Country" and "Harper's Bazaar" between novels. A trip through Africa resulted in the travel book "Remote People" in 1931 and the novel "Black Mischief" in 1932, for which he was accused of obscenity and blasphemy. In 1934 he published the critically acclaimed, "A Handful of Dust," which dealt with the subject of adultery. Using his trademark of dark humor, his writings before 1939 could be described as satirical and after serving in World War II, as being much more serious. During the war in 1943, he was recruited by Brigadier Fitzroy Maclean to join his mission to Nazi occupied Yugoslavia, and, for two years, he worked with a distinguished group, which included Bill Deakin, Randolph Churchill and John Henniker-Major. Their task, which was to make contact with the charismatic communist guerrilla leader "Tito", has been documented in detail in books: Maclean's "Eastern Approaches" in 1949 and Deakin's "Embattled Mountain" in 1971. They reached their mission on September 16, 1944 and his only government report, "Church and State in Liberated Croatia", was written on March 30, 1945 and documented of his witnessed war crimes against Roman Catholic priests. This war adventure proved to be source for other writings. He had volunteered for the Royal Marines, but was later transferred to the Horse Guards, after breaking his leg while making a parachute jump. This was the second broken leg as he had one in college. He used his recuperation time to write the novel, "Brideshead Revisited" in 1945, which proved hugely successful as it was adapted in 1981 to a television series of 11 episodes and in 2008 adapted to a Hollywood film. Other novels followed including "The Loved One" in 1948, "Helena" in 1950, "Love Among the Ruins" in 1953, and "The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold" in 1957, none of which reached the levels of success of "Brideshead." In 1960, he was offered the honor of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, but apparently refused as it was not a high enough rank. His final novella, "Basil Seal Rides Again" was published in 1963 and condemned by critics. The following year, his autobiography, "A Little Learning," was published. His health began to decline ten years before he collapsed with coronary thrombosis on Easter at the age of 62. "The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh," edited by Michael Davie were published in 1976, and reissued in 1995, and a selection of his letters, edited by Mark Amory, was published in 1980. He married twice. His first marriage was in 1928 and lasted about two years before a divorce, and in 1933 he filed for an annulment, which was granted by the Roman Catholic church on July 4, 1936 before his second marriage. In the second marriage, the couple had three sons and four daughters; daughter Mary died as an infant. His oldest son Auberon, who is known as Bron, became a journalist and author of fiction and non-fiction.