Charles Kingsley (1819-75) was an Anglican priest. In 1844 he was appointed Rector of Eversley in Hampshire. In 1859 he became chaplain to Queen Victoria and in 1861 private tutor to her eldest son, the future Edward VII. He was a canon of Chester Cathedral...
CS Lewis was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1898. He grew up in Ireland but moved to England in 1916 to attend University College, Oxford. After serving in the First World War, he returned to Oxford and completed his studies. In 1925 Lewis became...
JM Barrie was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland in 1860, but lived most of his adult life in England. Although he was a prolific and successful playwright, Barrie’s reputation nowadays is largely based on the popularity of Peter Pan (published as a play in 1904 and...
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1865, but he lived in England for most of his adult life. Today he’s probably best remembered for the short story The Man Who Would be King (1888), the poem Gunga Din (1890) and the novel Kim...
Who can resist Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends from Hundred Acre Wood? AA Milne wrote just two sets of Pooh stories: Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928) plus two collections of children’s poems: When We Were Very Young (1924) and Now We Are...
Ian Fleming wrote twelve full-length James Bond novels, all of which were turned into memorable movies, and two collections of short stories. The books (published between 1952 and 1966) have sold over 100 million copies to date, making Bond one of the best-selling fictional characters...
The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre – in the village of Great Missenden, 30 miles northwest of London – is both enchanting and instructive: a special place to include in your next literary tour of England). Dahl (who was Welsh by birth) lived in...
Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) holds a special place in the hearts (and minds) of many people, adults and children alike. It’s fantasy, of course, but it’s also deeply satirical, totally illogical and lots of fun. Try this brief extract: “But I don’t...