He is best known for his 1960 novel A Kind of Loving which has long been used as a set text in British schools and which has been variously translated into a film, a television series, a radio play and a stage play. Other novels include Ask Me Tomorrow (1962), The Watchers on the Shore (1966) and The Right True End (1976). He frequently attends public events in Ossett, where he grew up, and Horbury, his birthplace.

His other works include Joby, which was turned into a television play starring Patrick Stewart, A Raging Calm, A Season with Eros, The Right True End, A Brother’s Tale, Just You Wait and See, Modern delights, autobiography In My Own Good Time (2001).

He lives in Pontardawe, South Wales.