Blue plaque for Sir Kingsley Amis unveiled in Swansea

ONE of Britain’s best ever writers has been honoured in Swansea.

A blue plaque has now been unveiled for Sir Kingsley Amis outside the house on The Grove in Uplands where he lived when he first moved to the city in the late 1940s.

Amis wrote ‘Lucky Jim’ and ‘That Uncertain Feeling’ during his time at The Grove. He was also a lecturer at Swansea University for 12 years until 1961.

In 2008, the Times newspaper named Amis as among the UK’s ten best writers since 1945.

Swansea Council is behind the blue plaque scheme. Representatives of the Council and Swansea University were on hand at the blue plaque unveiling, along with two of Amis’ former students.

Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Enterprise, Development and Regeneration, said: “Our blue plaque scheme has been a huge success since being first introduced two years ago. From Pete Ham and Griffith John to Ann of Swansea and Emily Phipps, we’ve already honoured people from many walks of life, but Amis is the first male novelist to be celebrated.

“I wonder how many people realise that Swansea gave Amis his first job and his first proper family home? It was also Swansea that helped inspire ‘Lucky Jim’ – a giant of a 1950s novel that took the world by storm and was made into a film.

“Amis’ strong Swansea connections mean he’s thoroughly deserving of a blue plaque in a year that marks the 20th anniversary of his death. More of Swansea’s most famous sons and daughters will follow in future as we continue to honour people who have put Swansea on the map across the world.”

Amis moved his family to Glanmor Crescent in Uplands in 1956, where they stayed for five years. He was chiefly known as a comedic novelist, but his prolific literary work also extended into poetry, essays, criticism, short stories, food and drink, anthologies and science fiction. A graduate of Oxford University, he was knighted in 1990. Amis died in 1995, age 73.

Have a look at www.swansea.gov.uk/blueplaques to see a list of people and places in Swansea to have received a blue plaque.