People like Leslie Thomas

Leslie Thomas, OBE (22 March 1931 – 6 May 2014) was a Welsh author best known for his comic novel The Virgin Soldiers.

Thomas was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales. He was orphaned at the age of 12, when his mariner father was lost at sea and his mother died only a few months later from cancer. He was subsequently brought up in a Dr Barnardo's home; the story of this upbringing was the subject of his first, autobiographical, book, This Time Next Week.

Thomas attended Kingston Technical School and he then took a course in journalism at South-West Essex Technical College in Walthamstow. In 1949 he was called up for National Service and embarked on a two-year tour of duty in Singapore with the Royal Army Pay Corps. While there he was briefly involved with the military action against communist rebels in the Malayan emergency. He also began to write short articles for publication in English newspapers.