Maugham trained as a medical doctor at St. Thomas's hospital's medical school, London, but then decided to become a full time writer. He wrote many works including such well-known ones as "Liza of Lambeth" (1897), "The Magician" (1908), "Of Human Bondage" {1915), "The Moon and Sixpence" (1919), "Cakes and Ale" (1930) and "The Razor's Edge" (1944). 