Stephen Wakelam is an English writer and playwright born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire.[1] After Cambridge University, he was an English Teacher and Head of Department in South Yorkshire until he became a full-time writer in 1976.[1] He was Young Writers' Tutor at the Royal Court Theatre from 1981-1984 and then tutored young playwrights at the National Theatre Studio in the 1990s.[1] He has written over forty performed plays, at first mainly in television then primarily on radio.[1] His subjects are almost exclusively biographical, covering a broad range of interests. Wakelam was The Royal Literary Society Writer in Residence at universities in Leeds and Kent, 2009-12.[1] From January 2015 he is Writer in Residence at St Cuthbert's Society, Durham.[1]