Porterhouse Blue author was 85

Comedy novelist Tom Sharpe, whose satires included Porterhouse Blue, Wilt and Blott on the Landscape, has died aged 85.

The London-born writer died in the coastal town of Llafranc in north eastern Spain today, his editor Susan Sandon said.

She added: ‘Tom Sharpe was one of our greatest satirists and a brilliant writer: witty, often outrageous, always acutely funny about the absurdities of life. The private Tom was warm, supportive and wholly engaging.’

His most famous book was probably 1974’s Porterhouse Blue, a satire about a fictional Cambridge college, which was late made into a channel 4 series starring Sir David Jason in the lead role of head porter, Skullion.

Blott on the Landscape was also made into a TV series starring David Suchet and George Cole; while Wilt was made into a 1990 movie starring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones – see the trailer below.

Sharpe had been living in northern Spain for two decades, and leaves a wife and three children.

Published: 6 Jun 2013