Author Alan Sillitoe dies in London aged 82

Alan Sillitoe was still working up until his death

The author Alan Sillitoe has died aged 82 at Charing Cross Hospital in London, his family has said.

The Nottingham-born novelist emerged in the 1950s as one of the "Angry Young Men" of British fiction.
His son David said he hoped his father would be remembered for his contribution to literature.
His novels included Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, both of which were made into films.
The two books are regarded as classic examples of kitchen sink dramas reflecting life in the mid 20th century Britain.
Mr Sillitoe left school at 14 to work in the Raleigh bicycle factory in his hometown before joining the Royal Air Force (RAF) four years later.
He worked as a wireless operator in Malaya but while in the RAF, he contracted tuberculosis and spent 16 months in hospital where he began to write novels.
The award-winning writer was married to the poet Ruth Fainlight, with whom he had two children, David and Susan.
As well as numerous novels he published several volumes of poetry, children's books and was the author of a number of stage and screen plays.
In 1995, his autobiography Life Without Armour was well received.
Last year, he appeared on the BBC's Desert Island Discs, where he said if he was castaway, his ideal companions would be a record of Le Ca Ira sung by Edith Piaf, a copy of the RAF navigation manual, The Air Publication 1234, and a communications receiver - but for receiving only.

@'BBC'

The lonliness of the long distance runner indeed and somewhat ironically on the same day as the London marathon was held!