Llewellyn, Richard

Richard Dafydd Vivian Llewellyn Lloyd was born in 1906 in Hendon, London. He entered the workforce at sixteen, washing dishes at the Claridges Hotel in London, but soon progressed to more responsible positions in Italian hotels. In 1924, he joined the British army, serving for six years in India and Hong Kong. After leaving the service, he returned to England where he held a series of odd jobs, including a stint as a miner in South Wales and as a playwright. By 1938, he was working for Twentieth Century-Fox, a position that he left to complete his first novel, How Green Was My Valley, which was published in 1939.

Written over a period of twelve years, How Green Was My Valley, the story of a Welsh mining family, was a critical and commercial success, and later was made into an Oscar-winning film. The success of the novel made Llewellyn an instant celebrity, and gave him the opportunity to travel widely and lecture in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

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