John Berger was born on 5th November 1926 to middle class parents in Stoke Newington, London. His father, S.J.D. Berger, O.B.E., M.C., had been an infantry officer on the western front during the First World War. After what he has described as an unhappy private schooling at St. Edward's in Oxford, Berger gained a scholarship at the Central School of Art in London. His time at Central was interrupted by enlistment into the army where he served for two years in the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (1944-1946). Refusing a commission, Berger was retained as an army training instructor in Belfast, Northern Ireland. After the war, with a grant from the army, he resumed his education and studied for a further three years at the Chelse

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First published 28 February 2003

Citation: O'Connor, Duncan. "John Berger". The Literary Encyclopedia. 28 February 2003.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=380, accessed 20 November 2009.]