If you don't actually have a job, it's very hard to know if you've retired from it. Michael Frayn was born on September 8, 1933, in the suburbs of London. His mother, a once promising young violinist, died when Frayn was only 12. He showed a talent for music and poetry as a boy, and by the time he was a teenager, he knew that he wanted to be a writer of some sort. After a brief stint in the army serving as a Russian interpreter, Frayn attended the University of Cambridge. Graduating in 1957 with a degree in "moral sciences," he soon began his writing career as a reporter and columnist, and published several collections of essays from his columns and wrote several novels. His first playwriting efforts were far from successful, but he continued to write. Alphabetical Order (1975) received raves from the critics and won Frayn the Evening Standard Award for "Best Comedy of the Year". He followed this success with Clouds (1976), Donkey's Years (1977), and Make or Break, (1980) which also won the Evening Standard Award. However, Frayn is perhaps best known for Noises Off (1982), which won him a third Evening Standard Award for "Best Comedy of the Year" and enjoyed a run of four years in London's West End. Copenhagen (1998), brought Frayn once again to the attention of international audiences, winning just about every award possible, including the Tony for Best Play. Frayn has also translated several of Chekhov's plays, and has had several of his works filmed for television in the UK.  His most recent plays include Democracy (2003) and Afterlife (2008).