Bertrand Russell is the best known - perhaps the greatest -philosopher of the twentieth century. Alone among his peers he had something to say, not only about the great abstract problems of mankind, but also about everyday life. Based on comprehensive research in Russell's papers, this is the first biography to do justice to this extraordinary figure. Volume I takes us to 1921 and covers the first fifty years of Russell's life; his extraordinary childhood, his early works, leading up to PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA, his relationships with Ottoline Morrell, Wittgenstein, Joseph Conrad and D H Lawrence, his bizarre sex life, his conscientious operation in World War I and his visits to Russia and China.