Born in Newport, Monmouthshire, in 1931, Leslie Thomas is the son of a sailor who was lost at sea in 1943. His boyhood in an orphanage is evoked in This Time Next Week, published in 1964. At sixteen he became a reporter, before going on to do his national service.He won worldwide acclaim with his bestselling novel The Virgin Soldiers, which came out of his experiences in Malaya as a national serviceman. First published in 1966, it has achieved an international sale of over two million copies.Since then, Leslie Thomas has written over twenty other novels including Tropic of Ruislip, The Magic Army, The Dearest and the Best, The Loves and Journeys of Revolving Jones, Arrivals and Departures, three books featuring Dangerous Davies and, most recently, Running Away.He lives in Sailsbury, Wiltshire.