Laurie Lee
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Laurie Lee (June 26, 1914 - May 13, 1997), was a poet and novelist from the village of Slad, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, England.
His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie (1959), As I walked out one Midsummer Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991). Whilst the first volume famously deals with his childhood in the idyllic Slad valley, the second deals with his leaving home for London and his first visit to Spain in 1934, and the third with his return in December 1937 to join the Republican forces.
Other works include I Can't Stay Long (1975), a collection of occasional writing. He also published a number of poems during World War II, and later his memoirs of the Spanish Civil War.
Lee attended Stroud Central School, leaving at fifteen to become an errand boy. He later worked as an office clerk and a builder's labourer, and lived in London for a year before travelling around Spain. He started to study for an art degree, but returned to Spain as an International Brigade volunteer. His service in the Spanish Civil War was cut short by his physical shortcomings (he suffered from epilepsy). During the Second World War, he became a documentary film-maker.
Cider with Rosie continues to be one of the UK's most popular books, sometimes used as a text by schoolchildren.