13 Facts About Edward Upward

Edward Upward's parents were Harold Arthur Upward, who came from a middle-class family on the Isle of Wight, and Louisa "Isa" Upward, who had trained as a nurse and tried acting.

Edward Upward's siblings were John Mervyn Upward ; Laurence Vaughan Upward, who had schizophrenia; and Yolande Isa Upward.

In 1917, at the insistence of his mother, Edward Upward was sent to Repton School, where he became a close friend of Christopher Isherwood in the sixth form.

Edward Upward's first published material appeared in the school magazine, The Reptonian, in February 1920.

Edward Upward was awarded Cambridge's Chancellor's Medal for English Verse in 1924, for his poem "Buddha".

From January 1926 Edward Upward took up various teaching jobs in a number of locations, such as Carbis Bay, Worcester, Lockerbie, Loretto, Scarborough and Stowe.

Edward Upward remained at Alleyn's until his retirement in 1961.

Edward Upward became a full member of the party in 1934.

Edward Upward remained committed to internationalism and socialism for the rest of his life, although he and Hilda left the CPGB in 1948, believing that it was no longer revolutionary and that its leadership was trying to appease the Labour government.

In 1954 Edward Upward began to overcome his creative block and started work on an autobiographical trilogy titled The Spiral Ascent, dealing with the struggle of a poet, Alan Sebrill, to combine his creative endeavours with political commitment to the CPGB.

Edward Upward often gave interviews recalling memories of his famous friends.

In 2005 Edward Upward was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and awarded its Benson Medal.

On 13 February 2009 Edward Upward died of a chest infection at a care home in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, where he had relocated in 2004 to be close to his daughter.