Talk:Bruce Chatwin

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[edit] Place of Birth

Does anyone have a definitive source for Chatwin's place of birth? Also how long did he live in Birmingham? Info on the web is mixed. Reviews of Nicholas Shakespeare's biography here and here state Chatwin was born in Birmingham, here it states Sheffield. All agree he was from a middle-class Birmingham family and that he spent some of his childhood here. The Salon.com review quotes Nicholas Shakespeare: - For Bruce, Birmingham was always a place to leave. See also Talk:List of famous residents of Birmingham, England#Bruce Chatwin. Valiantis 13:50, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Have you read Nick Sh.'s biography, as distinct from reviews on the web? It says Chatwin was born on 13 May 1940 at 8.30pm "in the Shearwood Road nursong home," Sheffield (page 22 of the Viking paperback edition). For the next 5 years he was "passed around like a tea-urn" from one relation to another, while his father served in the Royal Navy. On his father's return from the war the family finally settled in a sort of farm near Birmingham, where he spent his childhood. Shakespeare spent 7 years doing his research, so I guess this about as definitive as it gets.

Thanks for clarifying. I haven't read the biography - my interest in Chatwin was primarily linked to whether he belonged in the Birmingham famous residents list. I was hoping however that someone here had read the biography and could save us all from the laziness of web reviewers and second-hand net info :) Valiantis 18:35, 6 September 2005 (UTC)