Introduction<br > Denton Welch s first ambition， conceived while at school at Repton and<br > consolidated as a student at the Goldsmith School of Art， was to be a<br > painter. He never lost this ambition - indeed， he more than adequately<br > fulfilled it， developing into an artist of extraordinary imaginative power<br > and technical skill - but in 1935. when he was twenty， the course of his<br > life was changed in such a way that he discovered another talent， one<br > which turned out to be even more potent. As he was cycling one day<br >;" . from his lodgings in Greenwicl~ to visit an aunt and uncle in Leigh， near<br > Reigate， he was run over by a car. He sustained appalling injuries from<br >~; which， thirteen years later， he was to die.<br >， His instinctive response to the accident， and the way in which he<br >. -~ managed to face up to his blighted youth and extremely uncertain future，<br >~(4. ~ was to turn inwards on himself and to live， in his imagination， almost<br >~2 entirely in the past. In doing so - in refining and recording his memories<br >~: L - he discovered his genius as a writer. Had it not been for the accident<br >~2~z~. and his subsequent confinement often for weeks at a time， to the daustro-<br >~" : phobic atmosphere of the sick-room， it is unlikely that he would ever have<br >!;~: written a word. Like the accident itself， this would have been a tragedy<br > : " for. as Edith Sitwen so precisely noted， he was a born writer. Instead of<br >~:~ remaining in the ranks of the many thousands of potentially creative<br > people who never discover their gifts， Denton Welch， through the mis-<br > fortune of a terrible disaster， was presented with the very conditions<br > under which his hitherto untapped talents could develop.<br > In 1940， when he was twenty-five， he began work on his first book.<br > Entitled Maiden Voyage， it was partly about his schooldays at Repton and<br > partly about an extended holiday spent in China when he was sixteen，<br > Like everything he was to write， it was based exclusively on actual events<br > and real people. The first edition， published in 1943， was an instant<br > success. During the five remaining years of his life， as he became pro-<br > gressively more ill he went on to write another two autobiographical<br >