British novelist and playwright W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM was born in Paris. The famous playwright was twenty-one when Oscar Wilde was put on trial. It was enough to make him “publicly straight.” He later said that his biggest mistake was “I tried to persuade myself that I was three-quarters normal and that only quarter of me was queer — whereas it was the other way around.” Despite his wealth, his fame, and his secretary-companion Gerald Haxton, Maugham died a bitter man.