- Left school at 14 and began a long series of odd jobs working as an apprentice in shipyards, as the assistant to a private detective, as an English teacher in Germany, a construction laborer, dishwasher, night switchboard operator in a burglar-alarm company, and a packer for a carpet company. Plus, he also labored for IBM.
- British National Service, 1952-54. Began his writing career as a novelist.
- Was adopted when he was six weeks old by dockworker Joseph Sharp and his wife Margaret, members of a Scottish church affiliated with the Salvation Army.
- Was married four times, and had six children and two stepsons.
- His daughter Minnie, or Rachel Sharp was married to Luke Perry.
- Once told Newsweek, he had fantasized as a child "that Humphrey Bogart was me father and Katharine Hepburn me mother".
- His daughter with Beryl Bainbridge is actress Rudi Davies.
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