Novelist, playwright, journalist, TV presenter, actor and artist. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize a record five times. Born in Allerton, Liverpool, grew up in Formby, her father a failed businessman, her mother a housewife, one older brother. Worked at the Liverpool Playhouse Theatre from the age of seventeen, where she met Austin (married in 1954, two children, divorced in 1959). Moved to London for good in 1963. Had one further child with the author Alan Sharp. Died in London.
The youngest son of the Norman knight William de Barry and his Norman-Welsh wife, Angharad. Always destined to join the Church (he built sand cathedrals, not castles, on the beach near his childhood home), but spent his adult years vainly longing and fruitlessly plotting to become the Bishop of St David’s. Found time to write many books, including Topography of Ireland, Journey through Wales and Description of Wales. Died in Hereford, or maybe Lincoln, sometime between 1220 and 1223.
Born in East Dulwich, London. The daughter of Thomas, a salesman, and Theresa, a housewife. Two younger brothers. Left home at eighteen to become a teacher. The author of at least 750 books, with worldwide sales of over eight gazillion, translated into every possible language. Founder of numerous clubs. Married Hugh Alexander Pollock in 1924, two children, divorced in 1943, married Kenneth Darrell Waters the same year. Unofficially banned by the BBC. Keen gardener.
Born in Edinburgh and destined to become the Ninth Laird of Auchinleck. Two younger brothers. Father a judge. Studied Law at Edinburgh University from the age of thirteen, but with no enthusiasm. Moved to London to mingle with ‘the great, the gay, and the ingenious’, brought back to Edinburgh by his father, escaped again to London where he met Samuel Johnson soon afterwards and never let go. Married Margaret in 1769 with whom he had five children. Author of the world’s greatest biography, the Life of Johnson.
Lived in London all his life. Wrote many sensational novels, as well as numerous short stories and plays. Author of The Moonstone and The Woman in White. Son of William, a conventional artist, and the charming hostess Harriet. One brother. Friends with Charles Dickens. Had long-running (overlapping) relationships with Caroline Graves from 1856 and with Martha Rudd from 1864 (with whom he had three children). Occasional champion of women’s rights.
Surrealist artist and visionary author, born in Assam, educated in England. Divided her time between Hampstead and her beloved Lamorna Valley in south Cornwall. Author of Goose of Hermogenes and The Living Stones. Married the Belgian surrealist Toni del Renzio in 1943, divorced in 1947. Died in Lamorna Valley.
The Chief. The Inimitable. Son of John and Elizabeth Dickens. Sent to work in a blacking factory from the age of twelve. Journalist and then serial novelist. Author of fifteen novels, plus plays, journalism and short stories. Married to Catherine in 1836, ten children, unhappily broke with her in 1858. Campaigner, philanthropist, actor, magician, public performer, entertainer. Defined an atmosphere, an era, a city, a nation … Dickensian.
Travelled through every English county, most of them many times, when the roads could not have been worse. Kept a detailed journal, finally published in 1888. From a family of religious Nonconformists. Daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes, an unsuccessful soldier on Parliament’s side in the Civil War, and Frances. Never married. Died in Hackney, East London.
Born in Lichfield to a spendthrift bookseller, Michael, and his wife Sarah. Afflicted with scrofula, probably also Tourette’s syndrome, and taken when a small boy to be ‘touched’ by Queen Anne, who was the last British monarch to perform this ‘cure’ (it didn’t work with Sam). Married Elizabeth ‘Tetty’ Porter in 1735. Spent her money on running a failed school. Moved to London in 1737. Journalist, biographer and poet. Author of the parable Rasselas. Took nine years to compile the English language’s first major dictionary. Lover of clubs and conversation. The subject of Boswell’s ur-biography. Quotable.
One half of the writing duo that produced The Real Charlotte, the Irish R.M. stories and twenty-nine other books (sixteen of them after her death). Born in Connemara, County Galway, into the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy, the youngest of sixteen children of James and Anna Martin. Met Edith Somerville in 1886 and wrote together (and lived together when they could) until her death in a nursing home at Cork. Keen fox hunter.
Born in Bradford. Father, Jonathan, a teacher; mother, Emma, probably a millworker, died when he was two. Fought in the First World War, wounded and gassed three times. Prolific author of novels, plays (including An Inspector Calls and Time and the Conways) and reams of journalism and non-fiction. Hugely popular broadcaster. Inadvertently started the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament with an article for the New Statesman in 1957. Married three times: Emily ‘Pat’ Tempest (1921–1925); Jane Wyndham-Lewis (1926–1953); and Jacquetta Hawkes (from 1953). Five children. Died at home near Stratford-upon-Avon.
One half of the writing duo that produced The Real Charlotte, the Irish R.M. stories and twenty-nine other books (sixteen of them after the death of her writing partner, ‘Martin Ross’). Born in Corfu (into the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy), eldest of ten children to Thomas and Adelaide. Trained as an artist in Paris. Met Violet Martin in 1886 and wrote together (and lived together when they could) until Martin’s death in 1915. Fox hunter and Irish nationalist. Died in Castletownshend, County Cork.