BRITISH AUTHORS

William Shakespeare's birthdate is assumed from his baptism on April 25. His father John was the son of a farmer who became a successful tradesman; his mother Mary Arden was gentry. He studied Latin works at Stratford Grammar School, leaving at about age 15. About this time his father suffered an unknown financial setback, though the family home remained in his possession. An affair with Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior and a nearby farmer's daughter, led to pregnancy and a hasty marriage late in 1582. Susanna was born in May of 1583, twins Hamnet and Judith in January of 1585. By 1592 he was an established actor and playwright in London though his "career path" afterward (fugitive? butcher? soldier? actor?) is highly debated. When plague closed the London theatres for two years he apparently toured; he also wrote two long poems, "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece". He may have spent this time at the estate of the Earl of Southampton. By December 1594 he was back in London as a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the company he stayed with the rest of his life. In 1596 he seems to have purchased a coat of arms for his father; the same year Hamnet died at age 11. The following year he purchased the grand Stratford mansion New Place. A 1598 edition of "Love's Labors" was the first to bear his name, though he was already regarded as England's greatest playwright. He is believed to have written his "Sonnets" during the 1590s. In 1599 he became a partner in the new Globe Theatre, the company of which joined the royal household on the accession of James in 1603. That is the last year in which he appeared in a cast list. He seems to have retired to Stratford in 1612, where he continued to be active in real estate investment. The cause of his death is unknown.

Charles Dickens' father was a clerk at the Naval Pay Office, and because of this the family had to move from place to place: Plymouth, London, Chatham. It was a large family and despite hard work, his father couldn't earn enough money. In 1823 he was arrested for debt and Charles had to start working in a factory, labeling bottles for six shillings a week. The economy eventually improved and Charles was able to go back to school. After leaving school, he started to work in a solicitor's office. He learned shorthand and started as a reporter working for the Morning Chronicle in courts of law and the House of Commons. In 1836 his first novel was published, "The Pickwick Papers". It was a success and was followed by more novels: "Oliver Twist" (1837), "Nicholas Nickleby" (1838-39) and "Barnaby Rudge" (1841). He traveled to America later that year and aroused the hostility of the American press by supporting the abolitionist (anti-slavery) movement. In 1858 he divorced his wife Catherine, who had borne him ten children. During the 1840s his social criticism became more radical and his comedy more savage: novels like "David Copperfield" (1849-50), "A Tale of Two Cities" (1959) and "Great Expectations" (1860-61) only increased his fame and respect. His last novel, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", was never completed and was later published posthumously.

Dahl was born in Wales in 1916. He served as a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He made a forced landing in the Libyan Desert and was severely injured. As a result, he spent five months in a Royal Navy hospital in Alexandria. Dahl is noted for how he relates suspenseful and sometimes horrific events in a simple tone.

Jane Austen was born on December 16th, 1775, to the local rector, Rev. George Austen (1731-1805), and Cassandra Leigh (1739-1827). She was the seventh of eight children. She had one older sister, Cassandra. In 1783 she went to Southampton to be taught by a relative, Mrs. Cawley, but was brought home due to a local outbreak of disease. Two years later she attended the Abbey Boarding School in Reading, reportedly wanting to follow her sister Cassandra, until 1786.

Jane was mostly educated at home, where she learned how to play the piano, draw and write creatively. She read frequently and later came to enjoy social events such as parties, dances and balls. She disliked the busy life of towns and preferred the country life, where she took to taking long walks.

In 1801 Jane, her parents and sister moved to Bath, a year after her father's retirement, and the family frequented the coast. While on one of those coastal holidays she met a young man, but the resulting romantic involvement ended tragically when he died. It is believed by many astute Austen fans that her novel, "Persuasion", was inspired by this incident.

Following her father's passing in January of 1805--which left his widow and daughters with financial problems--the family moved several times until finally settling into a small house, in Chawton, Hampshire, owned by her brother Edward, which is reminiscent of "Sense and Sensibility". It was in this house that she wrote most of her works.

In March of 1817 her health began to decline and she was forced to abandon her work on "Sanditon", which she never completed. It turned out that she had Addisons disease. In April she wrote out her will and then on May 24th moved with Cassandra to Winchester, to be near her physician. It was in Winchester she died, in the arms of her sister, on Friday, 18 July 1817, at the age of only 41. She was buried the 24th of July at Winchester Cathedral. Jane never married.

During her formative years, Jane wrote plays and poems. At 14 she wrote her first novel, "Love and Freindship [sic]" and other juvenilia. Her first (unsuccessful) submission to a publisher, however, was in 1797 titled "First Impressions" (later "Pride and Prejudice"). In 1803 "Susan" (later "Northanger Abbey") was actually sold to a publisher for a mere £10 but was not published until 14 years later, posthumously. Her first accepted work was in 1811 titled "Sense and Sensibility", which was published anonymously as were all books published during her lifetime. She revised "First Impressions" and published it entitled "Pride and Prejudice" in 1813. "Mansfield Park" was published in 1814, followed by "Emma" in 1816, the same year she completed "Persuasion" and began "Sanditon", which was ultimately left unfinished. Both "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey" were published in 1818, after her death.

Born the son of an Opium Agent in Bengal, Eric Blair was educated in England (Eton 1921). The joined the British Imperial Police in Burma, serving until 1927. He then travelled around England and Europe, doing various odd jobs to support his writing. By 1935 he had adopted the 'pen-name' of 'George Orwell' and had written his first novels. He married in 1936. In 1937, he and his wife fought against the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War. He produced some 3000 pages of essays and newspaper articles as well as several books and programs for the BBC.

Charlotte was born 1816, the third of the six children of Patrick Brontë, an Anglican clergyman, and his wife Maria Branwell Brontë. After their mother's death in 1821, Charlotte and her sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, were sent to Cowan Bridge Clergy Daughters' School, which Charlotte would later immortalize as the brutal Lowood school in "Jane Eyre". Conditions at the school were so bad that both Maria and Elizabeth became ill with consumption (tuberculosis) which killed them in 1825. Charlotte was very close to her surviving siblings, Anne Brontë, Branwell, and Emily Brontë. The children invented the imaginary kingdoms of Angria and Gondal, and spent much of their childhood writing poetry and stories about their make-believe realms. In 1846 the three sisters published a collected work of their poetry called, appropriately enough, "Poems", and in 1847 Charlotte published her most famous book, "Jane Eyre", under a male pseudonym, Currer Bell. Charlotte lost her remaining siblings within a brief time -- Branwell from alcoholism and Emily from consumption, both in 1848; Anne also from consumption in 1849. Charlotte was devastated, and became a lifelong hypochondriac. She resided in London, where she made the acquaintance and admiration of William Makepeace Thackeray. In 1854, she married Reverend A. B. Nicholls, curate of Haworth, against her father's wishes. Charlotte found she was pregnant not long after her marriage, and it was felt she would have a difficult pregnancy due to previous ill-health. She died on 31 March 1855.

English writer, scholar and philologist, Tolkien's father was a bank manager in South Africa. Shortly before his father died (1896) his mother took him and his younger brother to his father's native village of Sarehole, near Birmingham, England. The landscapes and Nordic mythology of the Midlands may have been the source for Tolkien's fertile imagination to write about 'the Shire' and 'hobbits' in his later book the Hobbit (1937). After his mother's death in 1904 he was looked after by Father Francis Xavier Morgan a RC priest of the Congregation of the Oratory. Tolkien was educated at King Edward VI school in Birmingham. He studied linguistics at Exeter College, Oxford, and took his B.A. in 1915. In 1916 he fought in World War I with the Lancashire Fusiliers. It is believed that his experiences during the Battle of the Somne may have been fueled the darker side of his subsequent novels. Upon his return he worked as an assistant on the Oxford English Dictionary (1918-20) and took his M.A. in 1919. In 1920 he became a teacher in English at the University of Leeds. He then went on to Merton College in Oxford, where he became Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon (1925-45) and Merton professor of English Language and Literature (1945-59). His first scholarly publication was an edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1925). He also wrote books on Chaucer (1934) and Beowulf (1937). In 1939 Tolkien gave the Andrew Lang Lecture at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland titled: "On Fairy-Stories". Tolkien will however be remembered most for his books the Hobbit (1937) and the Lord of the Rings (1954-55). The Hobbit began as a bedtime story for his children". He wrote Lord of the Rings over a period of about 14 years.

Tolkien also discussed parts of his novels with fellow Oxfordian and fantasy writer CS Lewis during their 'meetings'. He was trying to create a fantasy world so that he could explain how he had invented certain languages, and in doing so created 'Middle-earth'. However among his peers at Oxford his works were not well received as they were not considered 'scholarly'. It was after LOTR was published in paperback in the United States in 1965 that he developed his legendary cult following and also imitators. Tolkien was W. P. Ker lecturer at Glasgow University in 1953. In 1954 both the University of Liege and University College, Dublin, awarded him honorary doctorates. He received the CBE in 1972. He served as vice-president of the Philological Society and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was made an honorary fellow of Exeter College. Despite the immense popularity of his books today Tolkien did not greatly benefit from their sales. His son Christopher Tolkien was able to publish some of his works posthumously after his manuscripts were found.

London-born Virginia Woolf came from a wealthy family and, unlike her brothers, received her education at home, an unusual step for the times. Her parents had both had children from previous marriages, so she grew up with a variety of siblings, stepbrothers and stepsisters. Her father was a well-respected editor and author and the former son-in-law of William Makepeace Thackeray. Author James Russell Lowell was her godfather, and Henry James and George Elliott were regular visitors and guests at the family home. As she recalled later in life, her most pleasant childhood memories were of the summers spent at the family home in Cornwall, by Porthminster Bay (the Godrevy Lighthouse there was the basis for her novel "To the Lighthouse").

The sudden death of Virginia's mother in 1895, when she was 13, and the passing of her sister two years later led to the first of Virginia's mental breakdowns. In 1904 her father died, which caused a complete mental and physical collapse and for a while she was sent to a mental institution to recover. Nervous breakdowns and bouts of severe depression tormented Virginia throughout her life, and the fact that as children she and her sister Vanessa were sexually abused by two of their stepbrothers added to her already considerable feelings of guilt and inferiority.

She studied at London's Kings College, where she became acquainted with such literary figures as Lytton Strachey, Saxon Sydney-Turner and Leonard Woolf. She married Woolf in 1912. Virginia was always ashamed of what she termed her "unattractive countenance", and once wrote that "being wanted [was] a pleasure that I have never felt". In 1922 she met Vita Sackville-West, and the two women began a relationship that lasted for almost ten years. She was said to have written her novel "Orlando" as a love letter to West.

After the publication of her novel "Between the Acts" she fell into a deep depression, exacerbated by the destruction of her London home by Nazi planes during the bombing of that city, and the less than enthusiastic critical reaction to her biography of her close friend Roger Fry. Her condition deteriorated to the point where she was unable to write or even read. She finally had a full-blown nervous breakdown. Unable and unwilling to continue, she wrote a note to her husband saying that "I am certain I am going mad again" and "I shan't recover this time . . . I can't fight any longer . . . I can't go on spoiling your life any longer." On March 28, 1941, she left her home, walked to the banks of the nearby River Ouse, loaded heavy stones into her pockets and walked into the water. She was 59 years old.

Agatha was born as "Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller" in 1890 to Frederick Alvah Miller and Clara Boehmer. Agatha was of American and British descent, her father being American and her mother British. Her father was a relatively affluent stockbroker. Agatha received home education from early childhood to when she turned 12-years-old in 1902. Her parents taught her how to read, write, perform arithmetic, and play music. Her father died in 1901. Agatha was sent to a girl's school in Torquay, Devon, where she studied from 1902 to 1905. She continued her education in Paris, France from 1905 to 1910. She then returned to her surviving family in England.

As a young adult, Agatha aspired to be a writer and produced a number of unpublished short stories and novels. She submitted them to various publishers and literary magazines, but they were all rejected. Several of these unpublished works were later revised into more successful ones. While still in this point of her life, Agatha sought advise from professional writer Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960). Meanwhile she was searching for a suitable husband and in 1913 accepted a marriage proposal from military officer and pilot-in-training Archibald "Archie" Christie. They married in late 1914. Her married name became "Agatha Christie" and she used it for most of her literary works, including ones created decades following the end of her first marriage.

During World War I, Archie Christie was send to fight in the war and Agatha joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment, a British voluntary unit providing field nursing services. She performed unpaid work as a volunteer nurse from 1914 to 1916. Then she was promoted to "apothecaries' assistant" (dispenser), a position which earned her a small salary until the end of the war. She ended her service in September, 1918.

Agatha wrote "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", her debut novel ,in 1916, but was unable to find a publisher for it until 1920. The novel introduced her famous character Hercule Poirot and his supporting characters Inspector Japp and Arthur Hastings. The novel is set in World War I and is one of the few of her works which are connected to a specific time period.

Following the end of World War I and their retirement from military life, Agatha and Archie Christie moved to London and settled into civilian life. Their only child Rosalind Margaret Clarissa Christie (1919-2004) was born early in the marriage. Agatha's debut novel was first published in 1920 and turned out to be a hit. It was soon followed by the successful novels "The Secret Adversary" (1922) and "Murder on the Links" (1923) and various short stories. Agatha soon became a celebrated writer.

In 1926, Archie Christie announced to Agatha that he had a mistress and that he wanted a divorce. Agatha took it hard and mysteriously disappeared for a period of 10 days. After an extensive manhunt and much publicity, she was found living under a false name in Yorkshire. She had assumed the last name of Archie's mistress and claimed to have no memory of how she ended up there. The doctors who attended to her determined that she had amnesia. Despite various theories by multiple sources, these 10 days are the most mysterious chapter in Agatha's life.

Agatha and Archie divorced in 1928, though she kept the last name Christie. She gained sole custody of her daughter Rosalind. In 1930, Agatha married her second (and last) husband Max Mallowan, a professional archaeologist. They would remain married until her death in 1976.Christie often used places that she was familiar with as settings for her novels and short stories. Her various travels with Max introduced her to locations of the Middle East, and provided inspiration for a number of novels.

In 1934, Agatha and Max settled in Winterbrook, Oxfordshire, which served as their main residence until their respective deaths. During World War II, she served in the pharmacy at the University College Hospital, where she gained additional training about substances used for poisoning cases. She incorporated such knowledge for realistic details in her stories.

She became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956 and a Dame Commander of the same order in 1971. Her husband was knighted in 1968. They are among the relatively few couples where both members have been honored for their work. Agatha continued writing until 1974, though her health problems affected her writing style. Her memory was problematic for several years and she had trouble remembering the details of her own work, even while she was writing it. Recent researches on her medical condition suggest that she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other dementia. She died of natural causes in early 1976.

The dreamiest of the talented Brontë clan, Emily Jane Brontë was born in 1818. Her mother died when she was barely more than a toddler, and Emily and her younger sister, Anne, became very close. Along with their other siblings, 'Charlotte Bronte' and Branwell Bronte, they invented the make-believe kingdoms of Angria and Gondal, which occupied their lonely childhoods.

Emily never socialized well, and had few friends outside her family. In 1846 she and her sisters published a compilation of their poetry, "Poems", which was followed a year later by Emily's only novel, "Wuthering Heights". An intense and powerful novel, whose enigmatic hero Heathcliff was modeled on Emily's brother, Branwell, "Wuthering Heights" was not an immediate success like Charlotte's "Jane Eyre", but was later recognized as one of the best books of English Literature. Like her sisters, Emily published her book under a male pseudonym, Eliss Bell. In 1848, while attending the funeral of her brother Branwell, Emily caught a cold that developed quickly into the tuberculosis that would take her own life later that year.

C.S. Lewis was born in 1898 and brought up in a very strict, religious household. While he was quite young, his mother died of cancer but the "stiff upper lip" in favour at the time meant he wasn't allowed to grieve. He became an Oxford don and led a sheltered life. He seriously questioned his religious beliefs and finally left the church. The death of his mother is reflected in "The Magician's Nephew". When an American fan Joy Gresham, came to visit him, they found they enjoyed each others company and she stayed. She was dying of cancer and he was afraid to express his emotions until she convinced him that it was OK to "allow" himself to love her even though it would shortly lead to heartbreak when she died. This was a great writer who dared to examine his emotions and beliefs and record them for the rest of us. Most famous for his childrens book (The Narnian Chronicles) he also wrote a very interesting Science Fiction Trilogy and some of the most intriguing Christian literature. He finally resolved his crisis of faith after tearing apart and fully examining the Christian (and other) religion and re-embraced Christianity.

Writer, born in Bromley, Kent. He was apprenticed to a draper, tried teaching, studied biology in London, then made his mark in journalism and literature. He played a vital part in disseminating the progressive ideas which characterized the first part of the 20th-c. He achieved fame with scientific fantasies such as The Time Machine (1895) and War of the Worlds (1898), and wrote a range of comic social novels which proved highly popular, notably Kipps (1905) and The History of Mr Polly (1910). Both kinds of novel made successful (sometimes classic) early films. A member of the Fabian Society, he was often engaged in public controversy, and wrote several socio-political works dealing with the role of science and the need for world peace, such as The Outline of History (1920) and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind

Born into a wealthy and influential English family, Ian Fleming spent his early years attending top British schools such as Eton and Sandhurst military academy. He took to writing while schooling in Kitzbuhel, Austria, and upon failing the entrance requirements for Foreign Service joined the news agency Reuters as a journalist -- winning the respect of his peers for his coverage of a "show trial" in Russia of several Royal Engineers on espionage charges. Fleming briefly worked in the financial sector for the family bank, but just prior to the Second World War, was recruited into British Naval Intelligence where he excelled, shortly achieving the rank of Commander. When the war ended, Fleming retired to Jamaica where he built a house called "Goldeneye," took up writing full-time and created the character that would make him famous -- British Secret Service agent James Bond, in a novel called "Casino Royale." Fleming spent the rest of his life writing and traveling the world, but as his Bond character reached new heights of popularity on movie screens, Fleming was in ailing health. He died of a heart attack (his second) in England in August 1964 at the age of 56.

Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer of Irish descent, considered a major figure in crime fiction. His most famous series of works consisted of the "Sherlock Holmes" stories (1887-1927), consisting of four novels and 56 short stories. His other notable series were the "Professor Challenger" stories (1912-1929) about a scientist and explorer, and the "Brigadier Gerard" stories (1894-1910) about a French soldier in the Napoleonic Wars. Doyle's literary works have frequently been adapted into film and television.

In 1859, Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland to an Irish Catholic family. His father was Charles Altamont Doyle (1832 - 1893), a professional illustrator and water-colorist who is primarily remembered for fantasy-style paintings. Doyle's mother was Mary Foley (1837-1920). Through his father, Doyle was a nephew of the antiquarian James William Edmund Doyle (1822 - 1892), the illustrator Richard Doyle (1824-1883), and the gallery director Henry Edward Doyle (1827 -1893). Doyle's paternal grandfather was the political cartoonist and caricaturist John Doyle (1797-1868).

During his early years, Doyle's family had financial problems due to his father's struggles with depression and alcoholism. They received financial support from affluent uncles, who also financed Doyle's education. From 1868 to 1870, Doyle was educated at Hodder Place, a Jesuit preparatory school located at Stonyhurst, Lancashire. From 1870 to 1875, Doyle attended Stonyhurst College, a Roman Catholic boarding school. He disliked the school due to its rather limited curriculum, and the constant threats of corporal punishment and ritual humiliation used to discipline students.

From 1875 to 1876, Doyle received further education at Stella Matutina, a Jesuit school located at Feldkirch, Austria. His family wanted him to perfect his use of the German language, but this school offered a wider range of study subjects. Stella Matutina attracted student from many countries, and was more cosmopolitan in nature than Doyle's previous schools.

Doyle decided to follow a medical career. From 1876 to 1881, Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. He also took botany lessons at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. During his university years, Doyle started writing short stories. He had trouble finding a publisher, and "Blackwood's Magazine" (1817-1980) rejected his submitted work. Doyle's first published short story was "The Mystery of Sasassa Valley" (1879), featuring a demon in South Africa. That same year, Doyle published his first academic article in a science journal. The article examined the uses of the flowering plant Gelsemium as a poison. As an experiment, Doyle self-administrated doses of the poison and recorded the symptoms.

In 1880, Doyle worked for a while as a doctor in the whaling ship "Hope". In 1881, following his graduation from medical school, Doyle served as a ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba. In 1882, Doyle and a former classmate established a medical practice in Plymouth, Devon. Their partnership failed, and Doyle soon started his own practice in Southsea, Hampshire. He did not have many patients, so he decided to resume writing fiction to supplement his income.

In 1886, Doyle created the character of Sherlock Holmes. He loosely based his creation on his former college teacher Joseph Bell (1837 - 1911), inspired by Bell's emphasis on the importance of "deduction and inference and observation". Doyle completed the first Holmes novel, "A Study in Scarlet" (1887), and sold the rights to the publishing house "Ward, Lock & Co." (1854-1964). The novel's publication was delayed until November, 1887, but it was well-received by professional critics.

Doyle next completed the sequel novel "The Sign of the Four" (1890), commissioned from the American literary magazine Lippincott's Monthly Magazine (1868-1915). He started writing short stories about Holmes for the British literary magazine "The Strand Magazine" (1891-1950).

Besides Holmes stories, Doyle wrote seven historical novels between 1888 and 1906. He wrote "Micah Clarke" (1889), as a fictionalized account of the Monmouth Rebellion (1685) and its consequences. The novel also voices Doyle's arguments against religious extremism. He wrote "The White Company" (1891) to examine the role of mercenaries in 14th-century warfare, depicting the campaigns of Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376) in the Kingdom of Castile. He wrote "The Great Shadow" (1892) to feature the experiences of soldiers in the Battle of Waterloo (1815). He wrote "The Refugees" (1893) to examine the fates of Huguenot refugees who were fleeing 17th-century France to escape religious persecution by Louis XIV (1638-1715, reigned 1643-1715). He wrote "Sir Nigel" (1906) to examine the early phases of the Hundred Years' War (1337 - 1453). He regarded these novels to be his best literary work, though they were never as popular as his crime novels.

In 1900, Doyle served as a volunteer doctor in the Second Boer War in South Africa (1899-1902), though he had no previous military experience. He was stationed at a field hospital at Bloemfontein. At about this time, Doyle wrote the non-fiction book "The Great Boer War" (1900), which covered in detail the early phases of the war. He also wrote the companion work "The War in South Africa: Its Cause and Conduct" in order to defend the British Empire from accusations of misconduct in its military efforts. These works were translated in multiple languages, and were appreciated by the British government. For his services to the British Empire, Doyle was knighted in 1902. In 1903, Doyle became a knight of the Order of Saint John, a British royal order of chivalry that was based on the original Knights Hospitaller.

In 1906, Doyle was involved in efforts to exonerate the lawyer George Edalji, a mild-mannered man who had been convicted of animal mutilations on insufficient evidence. Doyle helped publicize other instances of miscarriages of justice, and convinced the public that there was need of reforms in the legal system. In 1907, British authorities reacted to this campaign by establishing the Court of Criminal Appeal.

In 1909, Doyle wrote the non-fiction work "The Crime of the Congo" (1909). In the book, Doyle denounced the human rights abuses in the Congo Free State, and claimed that the Belgian colonial forces had enslaved the local population. He quoted testimonies from many witnesses and tried to convince the public of a need to intervene in the area.

World War I (1914-1918) was a difficult time for Doyle , as several of his relatives and friends died due to the war. Doyle's son Kingsley was seriously wounded in the Battle of the Somme (1916), and never fully recovered. Kingsley died of pneumonia in 1918, while still hospitalized. Doyle's brother, Brigadier-general Innes Doyle, died of pneumonia in 1919. Doyle's brother-in-law, the famous author E. W. Hornung, died of pneumonia in 1921. The series of deaths led Doyle to further embrace Spiritualism, and that faith's claims about existence beyond the grave. He spend much of the 1920s as a missionary of Spiritualism, and investigated supposed supernatural phenomena. He also wrote many non-fiction spiritualist works. In 1926, Doyle financed the construction of a Spiritualist Temple in Camden, London.

In July 1930, Doyle suffered a heart attack while staying in his then-residence, Windlesham Manor, in Crowborough, Sussex. He spend his last moments in reassuring his wife Jean Leckie that she was wonderful. He was 71-years-old at the time of his death. He was survived by two sons and two daughters. His daughter Jean Conan Doyle (1912 - 1997) was the copyright holder of much of her father's works until her own death.

Since Doyle was no longer a Christian at the time of his death, his family declined giving him a Christian burial place. Doyle was buried in Windlesham Manor's rose garden. His remains were later re-interred in Minstead churchyard, New Forest, Hampshire. His wife's remains were buried beside him. His gravestone epitaph described him as "Steel true/Blade straight/Arthur Conan Doyle/Knight/Patriot, Physician and man of letters".

Doyle is long gone, but his works have remained popular into the 21st century. Doyle has been cited as an influence on later crime writers, and Agatha Christie's earliest novels were strongly influenced by Sherlock Holmes' stories. His life's events have inspired several biographies, and a number of fictionalized accounts.

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles L. Dodgson, author of the children's classics "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass."

Born on January 27, 1832 in Daresbury, Cheshire, England, Charles Dodgson wrote and created games as a child. At age 20 he received a studentship at Christ Church and was appointed a lecturer in mathematics. Dodgson was shy but enjoyed creating stories for children. His books including "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" were published under the pen name Lewis Carroll. Dodgson died in 1898.

Early Life, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, best known by his pseudonym, Lewis Carroll, was born in the village of Daresbury, England, on January 27, 1832. The eldest boy in a family of 11 children, Carroll was rather adept at entertaining himself and his siblings. His father, a clergyman, raised them in the rectory. As a boy, Carroll excelled in mathematics and won many academic prizes. At age 20, he was awarded a studentship (called a scholarship in other colleges) to Christ College. Apart from serving as a lecturer in mathematics, he was an avid photographer and wrote essays, political pamphlets and poetry. "The Hunting of the Snark" displays his wonderful ability in the genre of literary nonsense.

Alice and Literary Success, Carroll suffered from a bad stammer, but he found himself vocally fluent when speaking with children. The relationships he had with young people in his adult years are of great interest, as they undoubtedly inspired his best-known writings and have been a point of disturbed speculation over the years. Carroll loved to entertain children, and it was Alice, the daughter of Henry George Liddell, who can be credited with his pinnacle inspiration. Alice Liddell remembers spending many hours with Carroll, sitting on his couch while he told fantastic tales of dream worlds. During an afternoon picnic with Alice and her two sisters, Carroll told the first iteration of what would later become Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. When Alice arrived home, she exclaimed that he must write the story down for her.

He fulfilled the small girl's request, and through a series of coincidences, the story fell into the hands of the novelist Henry Kingsley, who urged Carroll to publish it. The book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was released in 1865. It gained steady popularity, and as a result, Carroll wrote the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1871). By the time of his death, Alice had become the most popular children's book in England, and by 1932 it was one of the most popular in the world.

Photography and Legacy, besides writing, Carroll created a number of fine photographs. His notable portraits include those of the actress Ellen Terry and the poet Alfred Tennyson. He also photographed children in every possible costume and situation, eventually making nude studies of them. Despite conjecture, little real evidence of child abuse can be brought against him. Shortly before his 66th birthday, Lewis Carroll caught a severe case of influenza, which led to pneumonia. He died on January 14, 1898, leaving an enigma behind him.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin; 30 August 1797 - 1 February 1851) was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel "Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus" (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.

After Wollstonecraft's death less than a month after her daughter Mary was born, Mary was raised by Godwin, who was able to provide his daughter with a rich, if informal, education, encouraging her to adhere to his own liberal political theories. When Mary was four, her father married a neighbor, with whom, as her stepmother, Mary came to have a troubled relationship.

In 1814, Mary began a romance with one of her father's political followers, the then married Percy Bysshe Shelley. Together with Mary's stepsister Claire Clairmont, Mary and Shelley left for France and traveled through Europe. Upon their return to England, Mary was pregnant with Percy's child. Over the next two years, she and Percy faced ostracism, constant debt, and the death of their prematurely born daughter. They married in late 1816, after the suicide of Percy Shelley's first wife, Harriet.

In 1816, the couple famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel "Frankenstein". The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary Shelley gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. The last decade of her life was dogged by illness, probably caused by the brain tumor that was to kill her at the age of 53.

Until the 1970s, Mary Shelley was known mainly for her efforts to publish her husband's works and for her novel "Frankenstein", which remains widely read and has inspired many theatrical and film adaptations. Recent scholarship has yielded a more comprehensive view of Mary Shelley's achievements. Scholars have shown increasing interest in her literary output, particularly in her novels, which include the historical novels "Valperga" (1823) and "Perkin Warbeck" (1830), the apocalyptic novel "The Last Man" (1826), and her final two novels, "Lodore" (1835) and "Falkner" (1837). Studies of her lesser-known works, such as the travel book "Rambles in Germany and Italy" (1844) and the biographical articles for Dionysius Lardner's "Cabinet Cyclopaedia" (1829-46), support the growing view that Mary Shelley remained a political radical throughout her life. Mary Shelley's works often argue that cooperation and sympathy, particularly as practiced by women in the family, were the ways to reform civil society. This view was a direct challenge to the individualistic Romantic ethos promoted by Percy Shelley and the Enlightenment political theories articulated by her father, William Godwin

James Matthew "J. M." Barrie was a Scottish novelist and playwright. He had a distinguished career, but is primarily remembered for creating Peter Pan and his supporting characters. He used the character of Pan in the novel "The Little White Bird" (1902), the stage play "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" (1904). the novel "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens" (1906), the play "When Wendy Grew Up - An Afterthought" (1908), and the novel "Peter and Wendy" (1911).

In 1860,. Barrie was born in the burgh of Kirriemuir, in the county of Forfarshire. The county has since been renamed to "Angus". In the 19th century, Kirriemuir was center for the weaving industry, Barrie's father was David Barrie, a moderately prosperous weaver. Barrie's primary caregiver was his mother Margaret Ogilvy, who introduced him to English-language literature at an early age. Barrie was the 9th child born to the couple, out of ten children.

In 1866, Barrie's older brother David Barrie was killed in an ice-skating accident. David was Margaret's favorite son, and she was devastated by his death. Barrie started imitating his dead brother, in an effort to serve as a replacement for him. Barrie's mother reportedly found comfort in the fact that her dead son would remain a boy forever, never to grow up and leave her.

In 1868, Barrie started attending the Glasgow Academy, an independent day school located in Glasgow. At the time, two of his older siblings were among the school's teachers. In 1870, Barrie was transferred to the Forfar Academy. It was a comprehensive school located in Forfar, and it was closer to his parents' house. In 1874, Barrie was enrolled at the Dumfries Academy, a grammar school located in Dumfries.

As a teenager, Barrie was a bibliophile. He enjoyed reading penny dreadfuls, serial literature sold at a cheap price. He also enjoyed reading the juvenile fiction of Robert Michael Ballantyne ( 1825 - 1894), and the historical novels of James Fenimore Cooper (1789 - 1851). Barrie was part of a group which liked to re-enact the adventures of pirates. He was also part of a drama club at Dumfries. While a teenager, he wrote and produced his first play: "Bandelero the Bandit". The play was denounced by a local clergyman for its supposed immorality.

Barrie aspired to become a professional writer, but his family insisted that he must attend university first. Barrie enrolled at the University of Edinburgh. While a college student, he started working at the newspaper "Edinburgh Evening Courant" as their drama reviewer. He graduated from university in 1882.

Following graduation, Barrie worked as a staff journalist for the newspaper "Nottingham Journal". Meanwhile he started working on short stories based on the life story of his grandfather. He eventually reworked this story into a trilogy of novels: "Auld Licht Idylls" (1888), "A Window in Thrums" (1890), and "The Little Minister "(1891). The stories depicted life within the "Auld Lichts", a religious sect which his grandfather had joined. These novels were popular at the time, though largely based on the industrialized Scotland's nostalgia for a bygone era.

In the 1890s, Barrie started working on theatrical works. An early success for him was "Ibsen's Ghost, or Toole Up-to-Date" (1891), a parody of the plays of Henrik Ibsen (1828 -1906). The play was largely based on two of Ibsen's plays, "Ghosts" (1881) and "Hedda Gabler" (1891) .

While working as a playwright, Barrie met and courted the actress Mary Ansell (1861 -1950). The two of them were married in 1894, though they reputedly never consummated their marriage. The marriage lasted until 1909, ending in a divorce. Barrie resented Ansell's extramarital affair with a younger man, the novelist Gilbert Cannan (1884 -1955). Following a second failed marriage of Ansell, Barrie voluntarily started financially supporting her. Until his death in 1937, Barrie gave her an annual allowance.

In 1901, Barrie published one of his most successful plays, "Quality Street". The protagonist Phoebe Throssel was a respectable school mistress, who started pretending to be a younger woman in older to reclaim the heart of her former suitor. The initial run of the play in London lasted for 459 performances. The play was frequently revived until the 1940s.

In 1902, Barrie had another hit with the survival-themed play "The Admirable Crichton". The play depicts an aristocratic family and their servants as shipwreck survivors. While living in a desert island, the butler Crichton turns out to be a far more effective leader than his employer. This satire on class relationships had an initial run of 828 performances.

In 1902, Barrie introduced the character of Peter Pan, which became his most popular creation. He liked contrasting the typical middle class life of the Edwardian era, with the adventurous life and ambivalent morality of the fictional Neverland. While most of the Pan stories were written for a child audience, their social commentary also attracted adults. Barrie was praised by fellow writer George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) for these stories.

In 1909, Barrie was part of a campaign by several playwrights to challenge the United Kingdom's strict censorship laws. In 1911, Barrie was part of the anti-censorship's campaign second wave. In 1910, he commented on marital relations with the play "The Twelve Pound Look". In the play, a married woman seeks a divorce. She has gained financial independence and no longer needs her husband. The play was considered controversial at the time.

In 1917, Barrie explored the concept of the alternate reality in the play "Dear Brutus". In the play, a group of adult characters feel that they have taken wrong turns in their lives. A magic users offers them glimpses into the lives of their alternate reality counterparts, which took different life decisions. Some of them are enlightened by the experience, others learn nothing of value. The play was a hit, running for 363 performances in its initial run. It was revived in 1922.

In 1920, Barrie wrote the mystery play "Mary Rose". It was the last notable hit in his career. The play's protagonist mysteriously vanishes twice. She first disappears as a child. She re-appears 21 days later, but she has no recollection of where she was. As an adult, Mary Rose vanishes again. She leaves a husband and a son behind. She re-appears decades later, with no recollection of where she was again. But she has not aged a single day, and she is now physically younger than her own son. The play offers no definite answers to its mystery. It has experienced several revivals.

In 1929, Barrie gave the copyright right to Peter Pan (and any royalties gained from it) to the children's hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital. The royalties have continued to financially support the hospital ever since. The copyright was extended indefinitely by a special provision in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Barrie continued producing new works into the 1930s, though none were particularly groundbreaking. His last play was the Bible-themed story "The Boy David" (1936). It concerned the relationship between the aging Saul, King of Israel and his youthful son-in-law and prospective heir David. The play was based on the "Books of Samuel". A play which Barrie wrote but never produced was "The Reconstruction of the Crime", published posthumously in 2017.

By 1937, had moved into a nursing home in London. In June 1937, he died there due to pneumonia. He was 77-years-old at the time of his death. He was buried in his native Kirriemuir, in the family grave previously used by his parents and some of his siblings. His will left provision for his ex-wife Mary Ansell and a number of Barrie's surrogate children from the Llewelyn Davies family. Barrie left the majority of his estate to his longtime secretary Lady Cynthia Asquith ( 1887 -1960). Barrie had no known descendants.

Several of Barrie's works have remained popular into the 21st century. Peter Pan has frequently been adapted into various media, and has inspired a number of unofficial sequels. Tourists continue visiting locations in Kirriemuir which are associated with him. Barrie's long-lasting fame has not faded.

Alan Alexander Milne (signing with the initials A. A. ) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and playwright from London. He is primarily remembered for creating Winnie-the-Pooh and his supporting characters. He set their stories in the "Hundred Acre Wood", a fictionalized version of Ashdown Forest in East Sussex. Milne owned a country home near the forest, and resided there for about 3 months of the year. He depicted Winnie in the short story collections "Winnie-the-Pooh" (1926) and "The House at Pooh Corner" (1928), and the poetry collections "When We Were Very Young" (1924) and "Now We Are Six" (1927). All four books were illustrated by Ernest Howard Shepard (1879 - 1976). The Winnie stories have received several adaptations, and were the basis of a Disney media franchise introduced in 1966.

In 1882, Milne was born in Kilburn, London. It was a relatively new district of the London, with its first major building activity having started in 1819. Kilburn was named after Kilburn Priory, a small community of nuns who resided in the area from the 1130s to the 1530s. Milne's father was the educator John Vine Milne. He operated Henley House School, a small independent school in Kilburn. Milne and his family lived within the school building.

Milne was initially educated at his father's school. From 1889 to 1890, Milne's school teacher was the novelist H. G. Wells (1866- 1946). Milne received his secondary education at the Westminster School, a public school that had been operating since the 1540s. It had received royal patronage by both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.

Milne received his college education at Trinity College, Cambridge. He entered the college with a mathematics scholarship, and graduated in 1903 with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics. During his college years, Milne was a writer and editor for the student magazine "Granta" (1889-). The magazine often published works by students who aspired to professional writing careers. It was relaunched as a literary magazine in 1979.

In 1903, Milne started regularly contributing texts for publication to "Punch" (1841-1992), the leading humor magazine of the United Kingdom. Most of his early published work consisted of humorous verse and whimsical essays. In 1905, Milne published his debut novel "Lovers in London". He later grew to dislike it. In 1906, he officially joined the "Punch" magazine's staff. He soon started working as an assistant editor for the magazine.

In 1913, Milne married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt (1890-1971). At the start of World War I, Milne joined the the British Army. He initially served in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) in February, 1915. His probationary status ended in late December 1915, when his commission was approved. Milne was transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals in 1916, as his health had declined during his military service. He returned from service in France to work as a signals instructor.

In 1917, Milne was transferred to Military Intelligence. He spend the rest of the war as a propaganda writer for MI7, an office of the Directorate of Military Intelligence with responsibilities for press liaison and propaganda. He was discharged from the army in February, 1919. He voluntarily relinquished his commission in February 1920, though he retained the rank of lieutenant. His son Christopher Robin Milne was born in August 1920.

During his war service, Milne had continued his writing career. In 1917, he published the fairy tale novel "Once on a Time". He tried to subvert the stereotypes of typical fairy-tales, by featuring morally grey "heroes" and "villains". He also portrayed Princess Hyacinth as a competent regent, rather than a damsel in distress.

In 1919, Milne published the comedy play "Mr. Pim Passes By". The play's female lead Olivia Marden is happily married to her second husband, following a miserable married life with her original husband Telworthy. Telworthy supposedly died abroad in Australia. Early in the play, Olivia learns from an elderly acquaintance that Telworthy may be still be alive, and that her second marriage is bigamous. How she tries to confirm whether Telworthy is alive forms the play's plot. The play had an initial run of total run of 246 performances in Manchester and London. It had several revivals during the 1920s, including a ran of 124 performances in Broadway, New York City. It firmly established Milne's reputation as a competent playwright.

In 1920, Milne was hired as a screenwriter by the film studio Minerva Films. It was co-owned at the time by the actor Leslie Howard (1893-1943) and the film director Adrian Brunel (1892-1958). Milne wrote the screenplays for the silent films "The Bump", "Twice Two", "Five Pound Reward", and "Bookworms".

In 1922, Milne published the mystery novel "The Red House Mystery", a "locked room" whodunit. In the novel, Mark Ablett is the owner of English country house. He already has several guests staying at his residence, and then he has an unexpected reunion with his long-lost brother Robert. Shortly after, Robert is murdered and Mark disappears. Amateur sleuth Tony Gillingham decides to find out what happened to the two brothers. Milne had been a long-time fan of mystery novels, and decided to write one of his own. The novel was a best seller, and remained in print for decades. However, Milne initially decided against writing another mystery novel.

Inspired by his relationship with his young son Christopher Robin, Milne started writing poems and short stories for children in 1924. Besides the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, he also published the short story collection "A Gallery of Children" (1925). He took inspiration from a series of illustrations by Henriette Willebeek le Mair (1889-1966), and wrote one short story to accompany each of the illustrations.

In 1928, Milne wrote the short story "In Which Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and We Leave Them There" as the finale of the Winnie series. In the story, an older Christopher Robin and Winnie bid farewell to each other, but Winnie promises never to forget his friend. Milne decided to quit writing children's stories by the end of the 1920s. He felt that his son was too old to enjoy them. He had also grown to dislike that the public expected him to write only children's stories, while he had diverse literary interests.

In December 1929, Milne introduced his theatrical play "Toad of Toad Hall". It was the first theatrical adaptation of the novel "The Wind in the Willows" (1908) by Kenneth Grahame. Milne introduced a frame story, where the 12-year-old girl Marigold listens to an animal fable by her nurse. The play enjoyed several revivals in the West End until 1935. It became popular again in the 1960s, and enjoyed annual West End revivals for two decades.

In 1933, Milne published the mystery novel "Four Days Wonder". In the novel, an obsessive young woman investigates the unexpected death of her aunt. While not one of Milne's most famous works, it was adapted into the American mystery film "Four Days' Wonder" (1936). In 1934, Milne published the non-fiction book "Peace With Honour" in order to express his pacifist political views. In 1939, he wrote his autobiography "It's Too Late Now: The Autobiography of a Writer".

During World War II, Milne served in the Home Guard (1940-1944). It was an armed citizen militia, and most of its volunteers were too old to join the regular armed services. Milne received the rank of captain, but he insisted to be called "Mr. Milne" by members of his platoon. He wrote the non-fiction book "War with Honour" (1940) to express the view that Britain needed to achieve victory over Nazi Germany. During the War, his son Christopher Robin served as a sapper in the Royal Engineers.

In 1946, Milne published his final novel, "Chloe Marr". It featured a beautiful socialite who regularly manipulated her suitors, but had a hidden agenda. Milne then published his final short story collections, "The Birthday Party" (1948) and "A Table Near the Band" (1950). They were met with little success, as Milne's popularity had declined. In his personal life, Milne was estranged with his son Christopher Robin. In 1948, Christopher Robin had married his maternal first cousin Lesley de Sélincourt, against the wishes of both his parents. Lesley's father was the hated brother of Daphne de Sélincourt, and the two siblings had been avoiding each other for 30 years.

In 1951, Milne published his final play, "Before the Flood". It was his first new play since the early 1940s. In 1952, Milne survived a stroke. Its effects reportedly invalidated him, and he was forced to retire from his writing career. By 1953, Milne looked older than his actual age . He was also increasingly depressed. He died on January 31, 1956, two weeks following his 74th birthday. His remains were cremated and his ashes "were scattered in a crematorium's memorial garden in Brighton".

In 1964, the University of Texas at Austin acquired a collection of Milne's manuscripts. It has also acquired fragments of Milne's correspondence, his legal documents, his genealogical records, and some of his personal effects. The original manuscripts for "Winnie-the-Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" have been acquired by the Trinity College Library, Cambridge. In 1979, a memorial plaque was unveiled in Ashdown Forest. It commemorates the works of Milne and Shepard which granted worldwide fame to the Forest. While Milne is long gone, Winnie and his other famous characters have remained popular for nearly a century.

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, the son of John Lockwood Kipling, a museum director and author and illustrator. This was at the height of the "British Raj", so he was brought up by Indian nurses ("ayahs"), who taught him something of the beliefs and tongues of India. He was sent "home" to England at the age of six to live with a foster mother, who treated him very cruelly. He then spent five formative years at a minor public school, the United Services College at Westward Ho! which inspired "Stalky & Co.". He returned to India as a journalist in 1882. By 1890 he had published, in India, a major volume of verse, "Departmental Ditties", and over 70 Indian tales in English, including "Plain Tales from the Hills" and the six volumes of the "Indian Railway Library". When he arrived in London in October 1889, at the age of 23, he was already a literary celebrity. In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier, the daughter of an American lawyer, and set up house with her in Brattleboro, Vermont, where they lived for four years. While in Vermont he wrote the two "Jungle Books" and "Captains Courageous". In 1901 he wrote "Kim" and in 1902 "The Just So Stories" that explained things like "How the Camel Got Its Hump". From 1902 they made their home in Sussex, England. He subsequently published many collections of stories, including "A Diversity of Creatures", "Debits and Credits" (1926) and "Limits and Renewals" (1932). These are now thought by many to contain some of his finest writing, although his introspection may well have been influenced by the death of their only son in the First World War. Although vilified by some as "the poet of British imperialism" in the past, nowadays he may be regarded as a great story-teller with an extraordinary gift for writing of peoples of many cultures and classes and backgrounds from the inside.

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer from Edinburgh. His most popular works include the pirate-themed adventure novel "Treasure Island" (1883), the poetry collection "A Child's Garden of Verses" (1885), the Gothic horror novella "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (1886) which depicted a man with two distinct personalities, and the historical novels "Kidnapped" (1886) and "The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses" (1888). Stevenson spend the last years of his life in Samoa, where he tried to act as an advocate for the political rights of Polynesians.

In 1850, Stevenson was born in Edinburgh. His father was Thomas Stevenson (1818-1887), a civil engineer, lighthouse designer, and meteorologist. Thomas was a co-founder of the Scottish Meteorological Society, and one of the sons of the famed engineer Robert Stevenson (1772-1850). Thomas' brothers were the engineers David Stevenson and Alan Stevenson. Stevenson's mother (and Thomas' wife) was Margaret Isabella Balfour, a member of a centuries-old gentry family. Stevenson's maternal grandfather was Lewis Balfour (1777-1860), a minister of the Church of Scotland. Lewis was himself a grandson of the philosopher James Balfour (1705-1795).

Both Stevenson's mother and his maternal grandfather had chronic problems with coughs and fevers. Stevenson demonstrated the same problems throughout his childhood. His contemporaries suspected that he was suffering from tuberculosis. Modern biographers have suggested that he was instead suffering from bronchiectasis (a congenital disorder of the respiratory system) or sarcoidosis (an autoimmune disease which affects the lungs).

Stevenson's parents were Presbyterians, but they were not particularly interested in indoctrinating their son. Stevenson's nurse was Alison "Cummy" Cunningham, a fervently religious woman. While tending to Stevenson during his recurring illnesses, she read to him passages from the Bible and from the works of the Puritan preacher John Bunyan (1628-1688). She also narrated to him tales of the Covenanters, a 17th-century religious movement.

Stevenson's poor health as a child kept him away from school for extended periods. His parents had to hire private tutors for him. He did not learn to read until he was 7 or 8-years-old. However, he developed an interest in narrating stories in early childhood. When he learned to write, he started writing tales as a hobby. His father Thomas was happy about this hobby, as he was also an amateur writer in his early life. In 1866, Stevenson completed his first book. It was "The Pentland Rising: A Page of History, 1666", a historical narrative of a Covenanter revolt. It was published at his father's expense.

In November 1867, Stevenson entered the University of Edinburgh to study engineering. He showed little interest in the subject matter. He joined both the debating club Speculative Society, and an amateur drama group organized by professor Fleeming Jenkin (1833-1885). During the annual holidays, Stevenson repeatedly joined his father in travels to inspect the family's engineering works. He displayed little interest in engineering, but the travels turned his interests towards travel writing.

In April 1871, Stevenson announced to his father that he wanted to become a professional writer. His father agreed, on the condition that Stevenson should also study to gain a law degree. In the early 1870s, Stevenson started dressing in a Bohemian manner, wore his hair long, and joined an atheist club. In January 1873, Stevenson explained to his father that he no longer believed in God, and that he had grown tired of pretending to be pious. He would eventually rejoin Christianity, but remained hostile to organized religion until his death.

In late 1873, Stevenson visited London. He had an essay published in the local art magazine "The Portfolio" (1870-1893), and started socializing with the city's professional writers. Among his new friends was the poet William Ernest Henley (1849-1903). Henley had a wooden leg, due to a childhood illness which led to amputation. Stevenson later used Henley as his inspiration for the one-legged pirate Long John Silver.

Stevenson qualified for the Scottish bar in July 1875, at the age of 24. He never practiced law, though his legal studies inspired aspect of his works. In September 1876, Stevenson was introduced to the American short-story writer Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne (1840-1914). She had separated from her unfaithful husband, and lived with her daughter in France. Fanny remained in his thoughts for months, and they became lovers in 1877. They parted ways in August 1878, when she decided to move back to San Francisco.

In August 1879, Stevenson decided to travel to the United States in search of Fanny. He arrived to New York City with little incident. The journey from New York City to California negatively affected his health, and he was near death by the time he arrived in Monterey, California. He and Fanny reunited in December 1879, but she had to nurse him to recovery. His father cabled him money to help in his recovery.

Stevenson and Fanny married in May 1880. Th groom was 29-years-old, and the bride was 40-years-old. They spend their honeymoon at an abandoned mining camp on Mount Saint Helena. The couple sailed back to the United Kingdom in August 1880. Fanny helped Stevenson to reconcile with his father.

Stevenson and his wife moved frequently from place to place in the early 1880s. In 1884, they settled in their own home in the seaside town of Bournemouth, Dorset. Stevenson named their new residence "Skerryvore". He used the name of a lighthouse which his uncle Alan had constructed. In 1885, Stevenson reacquainted himself to his old friend, the novelist Henry James (1843-1916). James had moved to Bournemouth to care for his invalid sister. Stevenson and James started having daily meetings to converse over various topics. Stevenson wrote several of his popular works while living in Bournemouth, though he was frequently bedridden.

In 1887, Thomas Stevenson died. Stevenson felt that nothing tied him to the United Kingdom, and his physician had advised him that a complete change of climate might improve his health. Stevenson and much of his surviving family (including his widowed mother) traveled to the state of New York. They spend the winter at a cottage in the Adirondacks, with Stevenson starting to work on the adventure novel "The Master of Ballantrae" (1889).

In June 1888, Stevenson chartered the yacht "Casco" to transport him and his family to San Francisco. The sea air helped restore his health for a while. Stevenson decided to spend the next few years wandering in the Pacific islands. He visited the Hawaiian Islands, and befriended the local monarch Kalakaua (1836-1891, reigned 1874-1891) and his niece Ka'iulani (1875-1899). Stevenson's other voyages took him to the Gilbert Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand and the Samoan Islands.

In December 1889, Stevenson and his family at the port of Apia in the Samoan islands. He decided to settle in Samoa. In January 1890, he purchased an estate on the island. He started building Samoa's two-story house, and also started collecting local folktales. He completed an English translation of the moral fable "The Bottle Imp".\

Stevenson grew concerned with the ongoing rivalry between Britain, Germany and the United States over their influence in Samoa. He feared that the indigenous clan society would be displaced by foreigners. He published various texts in defense of the Polynesians and their culture. He also worked on "A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa" (1892), a detailed chronicle of the Samoan Civil War (1886-1894) and the international events leading up to it.

Stevenson's last fiction writings indicated his growing interest in the realist movement, and his disdain for colonialism. In December 1894, Stevenson suffered a stroke while conversing with his wife. He died hours later, at the age of 44. The local Samoans provided a watch-guard to protect his body until a tomb could be prepared for it. Stevenson was buried at Mount Vaea, on a spot overlooking the sea. A requiem composed by Stevenson himself was inscribed on the tomb.

Stevenson was seen as an influential writer of children's literature and horror fiction for much of the 20th century, but literary critics and historians had little interest in his works. He was re-evaluated in the late 20th century "as an artist of great range and insight", with scholarly studies devoted entirely to him. The Index Translationum, UNESCO's database of book translations, has ranked him as the 26th most translated writer on a global level. Stevenson ranked below Charles Dickens (25th) in the index, and ahead of Oscar Wilde (28th). His works have received a large number of film adaptations.

Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June 1840 in Upper Bockhampton, Dorset, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Far from the Madding Crowd (2015), Tess (1979) and Maiden No More. He was married to Florence Emily Dugdale and Emma Lavinia Gifford. He died on 11 January 1928 in Dorchester, Dorset, England, UK.

Born the eldest son and third child of James and Mary Defoe, Defoe received a very good education, as his father intended him to become a Presbyterian minister, but he chose to become a merchant instead. In 1684 he joined the army of the rebel Duke of Monmouth, but when the rebellion failed, Defoe was forced into semi-exile. He went bankrupt in 1692, and began writing professionally. He wrote a satirical pamphlet in 1703 called "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters", for which he was pilloried. After a stint in Newgate prison and more troubles with his bankruptcy, Defoe wrote "Robinson Crusoe" and "Moll Flanders", both of which were great successes. Labeled a social historian for his interest in colonization, economics, and exploration, Defoe died of a lethargy in Cripplegate on 24 April 1731.

Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 - 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".

Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms-such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M. B. Drapier-or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.

His deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".

P.L. Travers was born on 9 August 1899 in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. She was a writer, known for Mary Poppins (1964), Mary Poppins Returns (2018) and Studio One (1948). She died on 23 April 1996 in Chelsea, London, England, UK.

Mary Anne Evans was born on 22 November 1819 at South Farm, Arbury Hall near Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Her parents were Robert Evans, the manager of Arbury Hall, and Christina Evans. She had four siblings: Robert, Fanny, Chrissy and Isaac. Mary was always considered a serious child and she always had free access to books. She soon became a great literature admirer. She had a special fall for Greek Literature and she would include many elements of Greek tragedy on her books. She also had a strong influence of social issues and religion. This latter was probably due to the Baptist education she would receive later.

Mary Anne attended Miss Latham's boarding school and then (in 1828) Mrs. Wallington's Boarding School at Nuneaton. At this second school she met Maria Lewis who was the governess of the school and had strong evangelical believes. Mary Anne then moved to Miss Franklin's school at Coventry. At this third school she developed her knowledge in literature and also studied French and the piano.

When her mother died in 1838 Mary had to leave school and come back to her father, but she never gave up studying. Her father bought her books and paid private tutor for her. She had Italian and German lessons too.

Some time after, Mary and her father moved to Foleshill where she later met many intellectuals and thinkers and these people may have had strong influence on her later work. She stopped going to the church, what made the relation with her father and close friendship with Maria Lewis unstable. In 1844 she begun working on the translation of "Das Leben Jusu" written in German by theologian David Strauss (1808 - 1874).

When her father died she traveled with the Brays (her friends) to Switzerland in order to refresh her mind. In 1850 she moved to London and then became friend of John Chapman, a publisher and bookseller. In 1851 Chapman bought "Westminister Reviwe" and hired Mary Anne, who was then calling herself Marian Evans, as the editor. With Mary, the journal became a success.

Marian then met George Lewes and they became close friends. George's marriage to Agnes Jervis had been over and he and Mary started dating and. In 1854 they started living together, but George was still legally married to Agnes. This had a very negative impact onto the London society and many people stopped talking to the couple.

In 1856 she published "Scenes of Clerical Life" under the male name of George Eliot - because she believed it would make her job more respected. In 1859 another work came out, "Adam Bede", a great success. When "The Mill of the Floss", was published, the real identity of George Eliot was not a secret anymore, but the book was successful.

She published other successful books later: "Silas Marner" (1861) and "Romola"(1863). It took her three more years until "Felix Holt, the Radical" came out. After the serious publication of "Middelmarch"(1871

• 1872), she became even more famous and rich. Unfortunately her health

was failing due to kidney stones and her pain was enormous. Her last novel, "Daniel Derona", was published in 1876.

George Lewes died in 1878 and Mary Anne became alone. In 1880 she married John Cross, a close friend she and George had. However, seven months after their marriage, Mary Anne died.