George Mikes (1912–1987) (pronounced Mik-esh) was a Hungarian-born British author most famous for his humorous commentaries on various countries.
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He was born on 15 February 1912 in the village of Siklós, Hungary. His first job was as a journalist on a Budapest newspaper. In 1938 he was sent to London to cover the Munich Crisis expecting to stay for a couple of weeks, but instead remained for the rest of his life. It is reported that being a Jew from Hungary was a factor in his decision. He married twice, and had a son called Martin by his first marriage, and daughter called Judith by his second. He was a friend of Arthur Koestler. He died on 30 August 1987.
His first book (1945) was We Were There To Escape - the true story of a Jugoslav officer about life in prisoner-of-war camps. The Times Literary Supplement praised the book for the humour it showed in parts, which led him to write his most famous book How to be an Alien which in 1946 proved a great success in post-war Britain.
How to be an Alien poked gentle fun at the English, including a one-line chapter on sex: "Continental people have sex lives; the English have hot-water bottles."
Subsequent books dealt with (among others) Japan (The Land of the Rising Yen), Israel (Milk and Honey, The Prophet Motive), the U.S. (How to Scrape Skies), and the United Nations (How to Unite Nations), Australia (Boomerang), the British again (How to be Inimitable, How to be Decadent), and South America (How to Tango). Other subjects include God (How to be God), his cat (Tsi-Tsa), wealth (How to be Poor) or philosophy (How to be a Guru).
Apart from his commentaries, he wrote humorous fiction (Mortal Passion; The Spy Who Died of Boredom) and contributed to the satirical television series That Was The Week That Was.
His autobiography was called How to be Seventy.
Serious writing included a book about the Hungarian Secret Police and he narrated a BBC television report of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.[1]
George Mikes (1912–1987) was a Hungarian-born British author, best known for his humorous commentaries on various countries and their citizens.
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