Michael Holroyd (Michael de Courcy Fraser Holroyd) Biography

British biographer, born in London; he was educated, as he states in Who's Who, at Eton and Maidenhead Public Library. In the latter he discovered the works of Hugh Kingsmill, the subject of his first biography (1964) and of his edition of The Best of Hugh Kingsmill (1971). The Unknown Years (1967) and The Years of Achievement (1968), his two-volume biography of Lytton Strachey, won considerable acclaim for its remarkable attention to detail and was instrumental in reviving interest in the Bloomsbury Group; a revised edition, Lytton Strachey: The New Biography appeared in 1994. The Years of Innocence (1974) and The Years of Experience (1975) are his two-volume biography of the painter Augustus John. The Search for Love (1988), The Pursuit of Power (1989), The Lure of Fantasy (1991), The Last Laugh (1992), and The Shaw Companion (1992; including a list of source references), his work on George Bernard Shaw, confirmed his reputation as a major biographer. His other publications include the novel A Dog's Life (1969) and Unreceived Opinions (1973), a collection of essays; he has also written scripts for radio and television. In 1982 he married the novelist Margaret Drabble.