Gaston Leroux

             

      

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             Gaston Leroux was French . He was born in Paris on 6^th May 1868 . His      mother and father owned a clothes shop in Paris . Leroux was a lively boy .  He like literature and the theatre . Sometimes , he was in trouble with his parents and with the  city officials .

          Leroux studied to be a lawyer but he did not enjoy this work .Then his father died and Leroux got one million francs . The yoyng man spent all the money in six months !

          In 1890 , Leroux became a reporter . He worked for the newspaper, L'Echo de Paris . He wrote about trials and criminals . He also wrote reports about plays in the theartres . His repots were clear and exciting . He became successful . Later , he was a jouynalist for the Paris newspaper,Le Matin .

          Leroux was a big , heavy man . He had a large black beard.He liked fine clothes and good food and drink . From 1894 to 1906,Gaston Leroux traveled to many countries.He wrote about wars and revolutions. He visited dangerous places .Many times,he had to put on unusual clothes and change his hiar . Then he left these countries safely .

           Leroux started to write a stories and plays in the 1900.In 1907, he stopped traveling.He did not work as a journatist . He did not write for newspapers . He wrote  plays,poems and stories . He wrote adventure stories , romances , detective stories and horror stories .

           Some of his stories are : The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1907), The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1911), The Man Who Came Back From the Dead (1916), The Secret of the Night (1914) and The Bride of the Sun (1915) .

          Leroux's most famous story,The Phantom of the Opere, was published in 1911.Leroux died in Nice , France on 16^th  April 1927.He was 59 years old .

Prepared by : Lydia
Source : Heinemann Books