Charles Percy Snow was born in Leicester and educated at the Leicestershire and Rutland College (now the University of Leicester) and the University of Cambridge, where he became a Fellow of Christ's College in 1930. His first novel, Death Under Sail, was published in 1932. He was technical director of the Ministry of Labour from 1940-1944; he was civil service commissioner from 1945-1960; he was Rector of the University of St. Andrews from 1961-1964; and he was parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Technology from 1964-1966. In 1950 he married novelist Pamela Hansford Johnson. He was knighted in 1957 and made Baron Snow of the City of Leicester in 1964. He wrote over 25 books.