Terence Rattigan was a friend of Spike Milligan's junior officer, Lieutenant Tony Goldsmith, who was killed in the Battle of Longstop Hill, whilst on observation post duty. Rattigan wrote an obituary of his friend and sent it to "The Times". A copy of it is in ""Rommel?" "Gunner Who?"", one of Milligan's war memoirs. After the war, Rattigan alternated between comedies and dramas, establishing himself as a major playwright: the most famous of which were "The Winslow Boy" (1946), "The Browning Version" (1948), "The Deep Blue Sea" (1952), and "Separate Tables" (1954). He believed in understated emotions and craftsmanship, which was deemed
Terence Rattigan at the last minute into a heterosexual play, is unfounded, though Rattigan said otherwise. On the other hand, for the Broadway staging of "Separate Tables", he wrote an alternative version of the newspaper article in which Major Pollock's indiscretions are revealed to his fellow hotel guests; in this version, those whom the Major approached for sex were men rather than young women. However, Rattigan changed his mind about staging it, and the original version proceeded. Rattigan was fascinated with the life and character of T. E. Lawrence. In 1960 he wrote a play called "Ross", based on Lawrence's exploits. Preparations