Born in 1919 in Bulwell, Nottingham, England, Stanley Middleton attended University College in Nottingham. After college he served in the British Army and then became part of the Army Educational Corps. He later taught at High Pavement College in Nottingham. Harris's Requiem, was published in 1960, A Serious Woman and Two's Company were published in '61 and '63.. His novel Holiday, about a composer who takes great joy in creativity, published in 1974, was the cowinner of the Booker Prize.