Christopher Isherwood was born in 1904 in Cheshire, England. After leaving his studies at Cambridge , he wrote three plays with his old friend WH Auden . After spending time with Stephen Spender in Berlin he published his first novel , All the conspirators . He later wrote Mr. Norris changes of trains and Goodbye to Berlin , which would serve as inspiration for the musical and film Cabaret (Bob Fosse , 1972). After his trip to the Sino- Japanese War in 1938 , he emigrated to the United States , settled in California and converted to Hinduism. He died in Santa Monica on January 4, 1986.