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Sir Terence Rattigan
(1911-1977)

Active: 1933-1977 in England, Britain, Europe

(Terence Mervyn Rattigan)

By Wendy Pollard (Independent Scholar)

Indexing Data:

  • Active In: England, Britain, Europe
  • Born In: England, Britain, Europe
  • Activity: Playwright, Scriptwriter

Life, Works and Times

Reader Actions

Sebastian Cruttwell (angrily): Do you know what “le vice Anglais” – the English vice – really is? Not flagellation, not pederasty – whatever the French believe it to be. It’s our refusal to admit to our emotions. We think they demean us, I suppose.
(In Praise of Love, Act II [1973])
Playwright Terence Rattigan made explicit, in this excerpt from one of his last plays, a theme that underpinned much of his work, but which, when applied by others to his own life and writing, was to contribute to fluctuations in his critical standing.

Rattigan was born in Kensington, London, in 1911, to parents who were both of Irish Protestant descent. He has never, however, been classif

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First published 24 May 2005

Citation: Pollard, Wendy. "Sir Terence Rattigan". The Literary Encyclopedia. 24 May 2005.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3715, accessed 9 February 2010.]

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