Answer the following question: Facts: - death place: nice , alpes-maritimes , france - caption: maugham photographed by carl van vechten in 1934 - birth name: william somerset maugham - notableworks: '' '' the razor 's edge '' of human bondage '' '' the letter '' - death date: 16 december 1965 - spouse: syrie wellcome -lrb- 1917 -- 29 -rrb- - children: mary searle -lrb- adopted , 1962 -rrb- elizabeth maugham -lrb- 1915 -- 1998 -rrb- alan - birth date: 25 january 1874 - name: w. somerset maugham - occupation: playwright , novelist , short story writer - image: maugham_retouched . jpg - birth place: uk embassy , paris , france - alma mater: st of king 's college london -rrb- thomas 's hospital medical school -lrb- now part Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of w. somerset maugham .
Answer:
william somerset maugham ch -lrb- ; 25 january 1874 -- 16 december 1965 -rrb- was a british playwright , novelist and short story writer .he was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s .after losing both his parents by the age of 10 , maugham was raised by a paternal uncle who was emotionally cold .not wanting to become a lawyer like other men in his family , maugham eventually trained and qualified as a medical doctor -lrb- physician -rrb- .the first run of his first novel , '' liza of lambeth '' -lrb- 1897 -rrb- , sold out so rapidly that maugham gave up medicine to write full-time .during the first world war , he served with the red cross and in the ambulance corps , before being recruited in 1916 into the british secret intelligence service , for which he worked in switzerland and russia before the october revolution of 1917 .during and after the war , he travelled in india and southeast asia ; all of these experiences were reflected in later short stories and novels .