James Hilton was an English novelist who wrote several best-sellers, including Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a novel by James Hilton, published in the United States in June 1934 by Little, Brown and Company and in the United Kingdom in October of that same year by Hodder & Stoughton...

.
Born in Leigh

Leigh, Greater Manchester

Leigh is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It is southeast of Wigan, and west of Manchester. Leigh is situated on low lying land to the north west of Chat Moss....

, James Hilton was the son of John Hilton, the headmaster of Chapel End School in Walthamstow

Walthamstow

Walthamstow is a district of northeast London, England, located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is situated north-east of Charing Cross...

.

Hilton wrote his two most remembered books, Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a novel by James Hilton, published in the United States in June 1934 by Little, Brown and Company and in the United Kingdom in October of that same year by Hodder & Stoughton...

while living in a rather ordinary semi-detached house on Oak Hill Gardens, Woodford Green

Woodford Green

Woodford Green, formerly in the county of Essex, is part of the North East London suburb of Woodford, on the edge of Epping Forest, mostly within the London Borough of Redbridge with a small part on the western side of the green within the London Borough of Waltham Forest .-History:Woodford Green...

. The house still stands, with a blue plaque marking Hilton's residence.

He was married twice, first to Alice Brown and later to Galina Kopineck.