The Author and His TimesAldous Huxley was born to an elite and intellectual family on July 26, 1894. His family consisted of writers and scientists, and he felt obliged to have the same success. When he was younger, he showed more intelligence and insight than the rest of the children. He also, however, had a rather large head which kept him from walking until he was two. His large head also gave him the childhood nickname of “Ogieâ€, which was short for Ogre (Brave New World P.S. 3). In school he was interested in becoming a scientist. However, at the age of sixteen, he contracted an illness which rendered him almost completely blind. In one of his letters to George Orwell, he stated that, “Since poor sight makes it necessary to ration my reading, I had to wait a long time before being able to embark on Nineteen Eighty-Fourâ€(Brave New World P.S. 12).His condition did not stop him from graduating from Oxford with honors; however it did stop him from serving in the military during WWI with his friends. He was married twice and had one son, named Matthew Huxley.
