About

Known credits:
28
Birthday:
1952-03-07
Place of birth:
Accra, Gold Coast [now Ghana]
Website:
Click here

William Boyd

Overview

William Andrew Murray Boyd CBE FRSL (born 7 March 1952) is a Scottish novelist, short story writer and screenwriter.

Boyd was born in Accra, Gold Coast, (present-day Ghana), to Scottish parents, both from Fife, and has two younger sisters. His father Alexander, a doctor specialising in tropical medicine, and Boyd's mother, who was a teacher, moved to the Gold Coast in 1950 to run the health clinic at the University College of the Gold Coast, Legon (now the University of Ghana). In the early 1960s the family moved to western Nigeria, where Boyd's father held a similar position at the University of Ibadan. Boyd spent his early life in Ghana and Nigeria and, at the age of nine, went to a preparatory school and then to Gordonstoun school in Scotland, and, after that, to the University of Nice in France, followed by the University of Glasgow, where he gained an M.A. (Hons) in English & Philosophy, and finally Jesus College, Oxford. His father died of a rare disease when Boyd was 26.

Between 1980 and 1983 Boyd was a lecturer in English at St Hilda's College, Oxford, and it was while he was there that his first novel, A Good Man in Africa (1981), was published. He was also television critic for the New Statesman between 1981 and 1983.

Boyd was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for services to literature. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has been presented with honorary Doctorates in Literature from the universities of St. Andrews, Stirling, Glasgow, and Dundee and is an honorary fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. Boyd is a member of the Chelsea Arts Club.

Boyd met his wife Susan, a former editor and now a screenwriter, while they were both at Glasgow University. He has a house in Chelsea, London and a farmhouse and vineyard (with its own appellation Château Pecachard) in Bergerac in the Dordogne in south-west France.

In August 2014 Boyd was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue. ...

Source: Article "William Boyd (writer)" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known for

Acting
2023 Martin Amis: Money and Memories Actor N/A
N/A
2009 Hockney on Photography and Other Matters Actor Self N/A
N/A
2000 Still Tickin': The Return of 'A Clockwork Orange' Actor Self 59
Average

Directing
1999 The Trench Directing Director 58
Average

Writing
2017 The Dreams of Bethany Mellmoth Writing Writer 59
Average
2012 Restless Writing Screenplay 70
Good
2010 Any Human Heart Writing Writer 68
Fair
2010 Any Human Heart Writing Writer 59
Average
2005 A Waste of Shame: The Mystery of Shakespeare and His Sonnets Writing Screenplay 58
Average
2005 Man to Man Writing Author 59
Average
2001 Sword of Honour Writing Screenplay 58
Average
2001 Sword of Honour Writing Writer 69
Fair
1999 The Trench Writing Writer 58
Average
1994 A Good Man in Africa Writing Writer 58
Average
1994 A Good Man in Africa Writing Novel 58
Average
1992 Chaplin Writing Screenplay 69
Fair
1991 Mister Johnson Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1990 Tune in Tomorrow... Writing Writer 58
Average
1988 Stars & Bars Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1988 Stars & Bars Writing Novel 58
Average
1987 Scoop Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1985 Dutch Girls Writing Writer 58
Average
1983 Good and Bad at Games Writing Writer N/A
N/A
Nobody’s Heart Writing Writer N/A
N/A
The Captain and the Enemy Writing Writer N/A
N/A

Production
2020 Spy City Production Executive Producer 70
Good
2012 Restless Production Executive Producer 70
Good
1994 A Good Man in Africa Production Co-Producer 58
Average