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Portrait image of W. Somerset Maugham Photo: 1929 Bassano/Camera Press / TT

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Maugham, W. Somerset

William Somerset Maugham was a British author born in Paris. His father was a lawyer at the British Embassy there. When Maugham was eight years old, his mother died of tuberculosis, two years later his father died of cancer and the boy was sent to live with his uncle, the Vicar of Whitstable in Kent. Maugham suffered from a serious stammer, he was shy and avoided speaking in public; unlike his...

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Literary figures

Archie (Archibald) Cribb

Gender: Male

Usually he is just called Sergeant Cribb, and has several given names: he has been called Richard as well as Daniel, but according to author Peter Lovesey his real name is Archibald and he is called ‘Archie’. He is middle-aged and stubborn, and works for Scotland Yard in London in the days of Queen Victoria. By his side he has his patient ‘Watson’, detective constable Edward Thackeray.

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