Itâs Tom Stoppardâs World and We Donât Live in It
Tom Stoppard in New York in 1974, when âJumpersâ opened on Broadway.Credit.Jack Manning/The New York Times
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By David Ives
By Hermione Lee
In his early 20s, Tom Stoppard â rather like young Aladdin and his lamp â told his mother, âIâd like to be famous!â
The lad in this case played genie to himself and made his own wish come true by pouring out, over more than five decades, a glistening stream of gloriously articulate, brilliantly intricate plays. A fulfilling home and social life seems to have accompanied the wished-for fame. An early unhappy marriage gave way to two much jollier ones, thereâve been terrific children, grouse shooting and rare-book collecting, friendship with Mick Jagger and cricket with Harold Pinter, the whole unimaginable public and private sundae topped off in 1997 by a knighthood. Over the course of his extraordinary life â heâs