Dust (Chapman & Hall 1945), written in a hospital bed as a cathartic release from the traumas of war. His first major success came with the publication of a novella entitled The Servant (Falcon Press 1948), on which was based the classic film The Servant directed by Joseph Losey, starring Dirk Bogarde and James Fox. After his father died in 1958, he took the title of 2nd Viscount Maugham. His maiden speech in the House of Lords on slavery alerted the world to the continued existence of human trafficking. From this came his book The Slaves of Timbuktu (Longmans 1961). At the height of his career, Maugham was a best-selling author with his novels translated into many languages. He wrote over thirty books including novels, travel books, plays, and biographical works such as Somerset and all the Maughams (Heinemann 1966). There has been a revival of interest in the works of Robin Maugham with the republication of his novellas The Servant and The Wrong People with introductions by the playwright William Lawrence, a trustee of the 2nd Viscount Maugham's Estate (Deed of Appointment 5 December 2007). Personal life Described as "unashamedly homosexual", Maugham never married, and the viscountcy became extinct upon his death. He had three sisters: Kate, Honor, and novelist Diana Marr-Johnson (1908–2007). Maugham bought the merchant ship MV Joyita as a hulk in the early 1960s, writing about the mystery of the incident in his book The Joyita Mystery (1962). The ship had been lost at sea only to reappear five weeks later after a massive search found nothing, without crew or passengers, and with four tons of cargo missing. He wrote a candid, critically acclaimed, autobiography, Escape from the Shadows (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1972), and then a sequel, Search for Nirvana (W. H. Allen London 1975) which he dedicated to his last companion William Lawrence who travelled with him on his search and who assisted him with his work. Death In the last five years of his life, with the impact of the new movement of working class realism, his popularity began to diminish and his health deteriorated. Maugham died in Brighton in 1981, aged 64. He died from a pulmonary embolism, compounded by long-standing diabetes mellitus, although an official cause of death was difficult to obtain as his body was apparently lost for forty-eight hours after his death. He is buried in Hartfield, Sussex, next