Losing it

Born 1959AD In Manchester, Bolt moved (aged 3) To Cambridge; he started writing verse; Was educated at the Perse And Balliol, Oxford. Faute de mieux He then became a stockbroker But kept on writing (in the loo) Stuff that he sent to people who Rightly (and rudely) turned it down; Translated quite a sweet, unknown Verse comedy by Pierre Corneille The Liar, which had found its way By '89 to the Old Vic. He dropped his job like a hot brick In 1990, to translate Full time. He has produced to date Versions of thirty plays or more But not one novel heretofore. He lives and works and is unwed In north west London, in Hampstead. The author is Ranjit Bolt, nephew of Robert Bolt the actor and grandson of Ranjit Singh the cricketer. He is well known in the Theatre for his new translations of verse classics (by Moliere for instance, or Aristophanes) mostly the National Theatre, where he has worked with Peter Hall, Jonathan Miller and others.