Biography

He allegedly declined the British Honour of a C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to drama and literature.

He was awarded the Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the 2006 Queen's New Year's Honours List for his services to literature and drama.

He was a prolific, often political writer who produced more than 40 plays, as well as books of essays, poetry and short stories. He is considered a prominent voice of 1960s "kitchen sink" British drama. He went to jail in 1961 for taking part in non-violent protests against nuclear weapons.

Arnold Wesker was knighted in 2006 for services to drama. He is survived by his wife, Dusty, sons Daniel and Lindsay, and a daughter, Elsa Hastad.

Born May 24, 1932, Wesker never went to college but instead had a string of jobs that informed his writing, including bookseller's assistant, farm laborer, kitchen porter and pastry cook, as well as service in the Royal Air Force from 1950 to 1952. "I really do feel I missed out not going to university," he told the BBC. "I just failed exams. I didn't even pass my English exams. When I write prose, I keep my fingers crossed that I'm writing it as I remember having read it in good literature." In the stiff, upper-class world of British drama in the 1950s, Wesker was part of a wave of new voices who took on all subjects, the "kitchen sink" of drama. Together with playwrights such as Harold Pinter, Wesker helped broaden the appeal of theater to a new generation. His plays have experienced a revival, with "Chicken Soup" performed in 2011 at London's Royal Court Theatre. Dominic Cooke, the Royal Court's artistic director at the time, said Wesker understood theater "is always metaphorical, even when the social context of the play is realistic and detailed. In 'Chicken Soup,' for example, the gradually disintegrating family stands for fading political idealism of the 20th century, but the daily life of the family on stage is brought to life with insight and honesty," Dominic Cooke said. Wesker's other well known plays include "Chips With Everything," based on his service in the Royal Air Force, and "The Kitchen," which draws on his days as a pastry cook. They were stories of ordinary people and real life. And he loved telling them well. "He genuinely loved words," his son Lindsay Wesker said. "That was really the joy.