22 Jan Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne was born in Ireland in 1713. After graduating from Jesus College, Cambridge in 1737 he was ordained as a priest. He then moved to north Yorkshire and made it his home for most of the rest of his life. His masterwork – The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (nine volumes, 1759-66) – describes, with gentle humor, the eponymous hero’s eccentric family and difficult childhood. The book was adapted as the successful feature film Tristram Shandy: a Cock and Bull Story (2005) starring Steve Coogan.

In 1760 Sterne moved to the Yorkshire village of Coxwold, where he bought the impressive Shandy Hall. The house stands in two acres of splendid gardens. There’s also a converted granary with self-contained accommodation on the ground floor and a gallery space above. Sterne died in London in 1768, at the age of 54, after a long struggle with tuberculosis. He was buried in the churchyard of St George’s, Hanover Square. When this was redeveloped in 1969, his remains were transferred to the churchyard of St Michael’s in Coxwold.