Michael Frayn is a satirist who has moved from newspaper columns to novels to television productions to stage plays. Judging from the critical responses, he seems to have conquered each medium. His plays have been popular with audiences who are attracted to their humor and with critics who have noticed the underlying social commentary and the influence of Wittgensteinian philosophy.

Frayn was born above a liquor store in Mill Hall on the northwestern edge of London. His father, Thomas Allen Frayn, was a sales representative for an asbestos company; his mother, Violet Alice Lawson Frayn, had been a shop assistant. Soon after his birth, his parents moved to Ewell on the southern fringe of London. Frayn believes his sense of humor began to develop during his years at Kingston Grammar School where, to the delight of his classmates, he practiced the "techniques of mockery" on his teachers. Referring...