Anthony Shaffer was born in Liverpool, England, on May 15, 1926. The Shaffer family moved to London in 1942. From 1944 to 1947. Shaffer worked a period of conscription as a coal miner. Finishing that obligation, he attended Trinity College, in Cambridge, where he was editor of the university magazine, Gnmta. Later, Shaffer worked as a lawyer, but, after three years, he decided to become a journalist. He also worked in advertising, writing commercials, and in television, producing documentaries and plays.

Shaffer and his identical twin. Peter, co-wrote several mystery novels in the 1950s. He also wrote the film script for his brother's stage play Black Comedy. According to Shaffer, it was at the urging of his brother that he wrote his own first play, The Savage Parade, in 1963.

Six years elapsed before Sleuth reached the theater. It was an instant commercial and critical success, both in England and internationally. It...