TOM SHARPE

Unfortunately, Tom Sharpe, one of Britain's greatest satirical novelists of the 20th century and author of the Wilt series, has passed away today at the age of 85 in Llafranc, Girona, where he had been living for the past 15 years.

With his novels, Sharpe built a loyal following of readers with best-selling books that combined farce, satire and vulgarity.

Best known by the Wilt series (five novels detailing the comic misadventures of a teacher), he is also the author of a total of 16 novels.

His first novel, Riotous Assembly, was published in 1971 and his last novel, The Wilt Inheritance, was published in 2010.