Fun Facts Friday: Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley (26 July, 1894 – 22 November, 1963) was a writer and philosopher from England. Mr. Huxley is known for his famous novel Brave New World.

Books by Aldous Huxley*

1. Mr. Huxley was born in Godalming, Surrey, England as the third son of Leonard Huxley, a writer himself, schoolmaster and magazine editor. The author’s mother, Julia Arnold, found the Prior’s Field School.
2. The Huxley family already had prominent members in it such as Matthew Arnold, a poet and critic, and Mary Augusta Arnold, sister of Julia, was an author by her own right writing under her married name as Mrs. Humphry Ward. His grandfather, Thomas Henry Huxley was a famous zoologist known as “Darwin’s Bulldog”.
3. His nickname as a child was “Ogie”, short for Ogre.
4. The first novel the author finished was at the age of 17, but it was unpublished.
5. During World War I Mr. Huxley volunteered (1916), but was reject because he was blind in one eye. He was 16 years old at the time.
6. In 1937 the author and his family (wife Maria and son Matthew) moved to Hollywood. He lived in the southern California  (most of the time) until his death.
7. Mr. Huxley’s second wife (Markia died of cancer in 1955) was author Laura Archera.
8. Mr. Huxley was a lifelong pacifist and a judge had to stop his American citizenship neutralization proceedings because he refuse to say he would take up arms to defend the country.
9. The author was a lifelong friend of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.
10. Mr. Huxley’s death, as well as that of C. S. Lewis, was overshadowed by the assassination of President Kennedy.

Books by Aldous Huxley*

Zohar — Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account