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William Shakespeare (1564-1616) |  English poet, dramatist, and actor, considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time. Some of Shakespeare's plays, such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, are among the most famous literary pieces of the world. However, his early works did not match the artistic quality of Marlowe's dramas. Ben Jonson (1572-1637), another contemporary playwright, said that Shakespeare's "wit was in his own power; would the rule of it had been so too". Shakespeare possessed a large vocabulary for his day, having used 29,066 different words in his plays. Today the average English-speaking person uses something like 2,000 words in everyday speech.William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small country town. Stratford was famous for its malting. The black plague killed in 1564 one out of seven of the town's 1,500 inhabitants. Shakespeare was the eldest son of Mary Arden, the daughter of a local landowner, and her husband, John Shakespeare (c. 1530-1601), a glover and wood dealer. John Aubrey (1626-1697) tells in Brief Lives that Shakespeare's father was a butcher and the young William exercised his father's trade, "but when he kill'd a Calfe he would do it in a high style, and make a speech." In 1568 John Shakespeare was made a mayor of Stratford and a justice of peace. His wool business failed in the 1570s, and in 1580 he was fined £40, with other 140 men, for failing to find surety to keep the peace. There is not record that his fine was paid. Later the church commissioners reported of him and eight other men that they had failed to attend church "for fear of process for debt". The family's position was restored in the 1590s by earnings of William Shakespeare, and in 1596 he was awarded a coat of arms. | HIS WORKS * Tragedies * Antony and Cleopatra * Coriolanus * Hamlet * Julius Caesar * King Lear * Macbeth * Othello * Romeo and Juliet * Timon of Athens * Titus Andronicus * Histories * King Henry IV Part 1 * King Henry IV Part 2 * King Henry V * King Henry VI Part 1 * King Henry VI Part 2 * King Henry VI Part 3 * King Henry VIII * King John * Richard II * Richard III * Comedies * All's Well That Ends Well * As You Like It * Comedy of Errors * Cymbeline * Love's Labour's Lost * Measure for Measure * Merchant of Venice * Merry Wives of Windsor * Midsummer Night's Dream * Much Ado About Nothing * Pericles, Prince of Tyre * Taming of the Shrew * Tempest * Troilus and Cressida * Twelfth Night * Two Gentlemen of Verona * Winter's Tale * Poetry * A Lover's Complaint * Sonnets 1-30 * Sonnets 121-154 * Sonnets 31-60 * Sonnets 61-90 * Sonnets 91-120 * The Passionate Pilgrim * The Phoenix and the Turtle * The Rape of Lucrece * Venus and Adonis CHARLES DICKENS(1812-1870) Charles John Huffman Dickens was born on 7 February, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England (now the Dickens Birthplace Museum) the son of Elizabeth née Barrow (1789-1863) and John Dickens (c.1785-1851) a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. John was a congenial man, hospitable and generous to a fault which caused him financial difficulties throughout his life. He inspired the character Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield (1849-1850).As a prolific 19th Century author of short stories, plays, novellas, novels, fiction and non, during his lifetime Dickens became known the world over for his remarkable characters, his mastery of prose in the telling of their lives, and his depictions of the social classes, mores and values of his times. Some considered him the spokesman for the poor, for he definitely brought much awareness to their plight, the downtrodden and the have-nots. He had his share of critics like Virginia Woolf and Henry James, but also many admirers, even into the 21st Century. From the 1840s Dickens spent much time travelling and campaigning against many of the social evils of his time. In addition he gave talks and reading, wrote pamphlets, plays, and letters. In the 1850s Dickens was founding editor of Household World and its successor All the Year Round (1859-70). In 1844-45 he lived in Italy, Switzerland and Paris. He gave lecturing tours in Britain and the United States in 1858-68. From 1860 Dickens lived at Gadshill Place, near Rochester, Kent. He died at Gadshill on June 9, 1870.  Although Dickens's career as a novelist received much attention, he produced hundreds of essays and edited and rewrote hundreds of others submitted to the various periodicals he edited. Dickens distinquished himself as an essayis in 1834 under the pseudonym Boz. 'A Visit to Newgate' (1836) reflects his own memories of visiting his own family in the Marshalea Prison. In 'A Small Star in in the East' reveals the working conditions on mills and 'Mr. Barlow' (1869) draws a portrait of a unsensitive tutor. Novels by Charles Dickens The Pickwick Papers - 1836 Oliver Twist - 1837 Nicholas Nickleby - 1838 The Old Curiosity Shop - 1840 Barnaby Rudge - 1841 Martin Chuzzlewit - 1843 Dombey and Son - 1846 David Copperfield - 1849 Bleak House -Little Dorrit – 1855,A Tale of Two Cities – 1859 1852 Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) RUDYARD KIPLING was born in Bombay, but educated in England at the United Services College, Westward Ho, Bideford. In 1882 he returned to India, where he worked for Anglo-Indian newspapers. His literary career began withDepartmental Ditties (1886), but subsequently he became chiefly known as a writer of short stories. A prolific writer, he achieved fame quickly. Kipling was the poet of the British Empire and its yeoman, the common soldier, whom he glorified in many of his works, in particular Plain Tales from the Hills (1888) and Soldiers Three (1888), collections of short stories with roughly and affectionately drawn soldier portraits. His Barrack Room Ballads (1892) were written for, as much as about, the common soldier. In 1894 appeared his Jungle Book, which became a children's classic all over the world.Kim (1901), the story of Kimball O'Hara and his adventures in the Himalayas, is perhaps his most felicitous work. Other works include The Second Jungle Book (1895), The Seven Seas (1896), Captains Courageous (1897), The Day's Work (1898), Stalky and Co. (1899), Just So Stories (1902),Trafficks and Discoveries (1904), Puck of Pook's Hill (1906), Actions and Reactions (1909),Debits and Credits (1926), Thy Servant a Dog (1930), and Limits and Renewals (1932). During the First World War Kipling wrote some propaganda books. His collected poems appeared in 1933. Kipling was the recipient of many honorary degrees and other awards. In 1926 he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Literature, which only Scott, Meredith, and Hardy had been awarded before him. Poems and Poetry Books “The Absent-Minded Beggar” (1899) “If” (1910) The Seven Seas (1896) The Five Nations (1903) The Years Between (1919) Short Stories and Collections “The Man Who Would Be King” (1888) “Mary Postgate” (1915) Many Inventions (1893) A Fleet in Being (1898) Just So Stories for Little Children (1902) Traffics and Discoveries (1904) Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906) Actions and Reactions (1909) Rewards and Fairies (1910) Songs from Books (1912) A Diversity of Creatures (1917) Land and Sea Tales for Scouts and Guides (1923) ENID BLYTON(1897-1968) Enid Blyton was born in London, in a small flat above a shop in East Dulwich. She was the eldest of three children. Her father, Thomas Carey Blyton, had many talents: he painted in water colours, wrote poetry, learned to play piano, taught himself foreign languages, and was a photographer. After working as a cutlery salesman, he joined his two older brothe rs in the family 'mantle warehousing' business of Fisher and Nephew. Theresa Mary Hamilton, Enid's mother, did not share her husband's interests, and she did not approve that Enid kept her nose in a book all the time. After Thomas started an affair with another woman, she moved with her children, Enid, Hanly, and Carey, to Beckenham. Thomas established a successful wholesale clothing business in the City of London. He took care of his children's private school fees and sent regularly money to support his family. Blyton's father died in 1920; she did not attend her funeral. From her earliest childhood, Blyton had been schooled in the belief that she would eventually be a musician. However, she had also started to write and send stories, articles, and poems to various periodicals. Although her family thought, that most of her writing was a waste of time, she remained undaunted. Her first published poem – entitled 'Have You–'' – appeared in Nash's Magazine(1917). Blyton's first book, Child Whispers (1922), was a collection of verse. This twenty-four-page work was followed by Real Fairies: Poems (1923), Responsive Singing Games (1923), The Enid Blyton Book of Fairies (1924), Songs of Gladness(1924), The Zoo Book (1924), and other books published by J. Saville and Newnes. Little Noddy Goes to Toyland, (1949), a story of a little toy man, who always ends up in trouble and has to seek help from his Toyland friends, was a huge success; its sales exceeded expectations. Other Noddy books of various sizes and types followed in rapid succession. The stories, directed for readers between three and five years, were illustrated by Van Der Beek who died suddenly in Holland in 1953. 'Noddy' became a household name, the subject of music hall jokes and sketches. The series also produced a play and a film. Enid Blyton Magazine was closed in 1959. In the early sixties her memory began to falter but her condition, the first signs of what may have been Alzheimer's disease, was kept a secret. Blyton found it increasingly difficult to concentrate to writing; Five Are Together Again (1963) was the last in this series. Her husband died in 1967. During the months that followed, her own illness grew progressively worse. Blyton died in her sleep on November 28, 1968, in a Hampsted nursing home. Along with William Earl Johns, the creator of Biggles series, Blyton was the most prolific children's writer of the immediate post-war period. In the 1950s and 1960s her books were attacked from many sides and also the BBC kept her work off air until 1963. Moreover, librarians imposed sanctions on her publications owing to their supposedly limited vocabulary. The main target for anti-Blytons was Noddy, "the most egocentric, joyless, snivelling and pious anti-hero in the history of British fiction", as he was described by Colin Welsh. Rumours were spread, that she did not write all her own books. The "banning" did not last long and eventually Blyton's ability to encourage children to read was recognized generally. Although her books were criticized for racism, sexism, and snobbishness, they always found new readers from new generations. "She was a child, she thought as a child and she wrote as a child," has the psychologist Michael Woods summarized the secret of her writing. At the end of the 1990s, well over 300 Blyton titles were still in print, including editions of the Famous Five stories linked to the popular television serialization (1995) and modern adventure games, also based on the Famous Five series. Blyton's life was the subject of the BBC drama Enid (2009), starring Helena Bonham Carter in the title role. "She was totally emotionally immature. She's a therapist’s dream," Bonham Carter said. It was long believed that there are no more unpublished or unknown Blyton works waiting to be discovered, until a 180 page fantasy novel, titled Mr Trumpy's Caravan, was found in 2011 among the collection of Seven Stories, the national gallery and archive of children’s books. Blyton's diaries and the logs in which she recorded her writing were destroyed by her husband. FAMOUS BOOKS OF ENID BLYTON * The Five Find-Outers( Also known as Enid Blyton's Mystery series) * The Famous Five series * The Adventure series * The Noddy books * The Secret Seven series * The Malory Towers series * The St. Clare's series * The Wishing-Chair series * The Magic Faraway Tree series * The Barney Mystery series * The Circus series * The Mistletoes Farm series * The Naughtiest Girl series * The Young Adventurers Series * The Adventurous Four Series * The Family Series * The Family Adventures Series * The Secret Series Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | Born | Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle 22 May 1859 Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom | Died | 7 July 1930 (aged 71) Crowborough, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom | Occupation | Novelist, short story writer, poet, doctor of medicine | Nationality | Scottish | Citizenship | British | Genres | Detective fiction, science fiction,historical novels, non-fiction | Notable work(s) | Stories of Sherlock Holmes The Lost World | Influences[show] | Influenced[show] | | Signature | | Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Doyles were a prosperous Irish-Catholic family, who had a prominent position in the world of Art. Charles Altamont Doyle, Arthur's father, a chronic alcoholic, was the only member of his family, who apart from fathering a brilliant son, never accomplished anything of note. At the age of twenty-two, Charles had married Mary Foley, a vivacious and very well educated young woman of seventeen. Mary Doyle had a passion for books and was a master storyteller. Her son Arthur wrote of his mother's gift of "sinking her voice to a horror-stricken whisper" when she reached the culminating point of a story. There was little money in the family and even less harmony on account of his father's excesses and erratic behavior. Arthur's touching description of his mother's beneficial influence is also poignantly described in his biography, "In my early childhood, as far as I can remember anything at all, the vivid stories she would tell me stand out so clearly that they obscure the real facts of my life." After Arthur reached his ninth birthday, the wealthy members of the Doyle family offered to pay for his studies. He was in tears all the way to England, where for seven years he had to go to a Jesuit boarding school. Arthur loathed the bigotry surrounding his studies and rebelled at corporal punishment, which was prevalent and incredibly brutal in most English schools of that epoch. During those grueling years, Arthur's only moments of happiness were when he wrote to his mother, a regular habit that lasted for the rest of her life, and also when he practiced sports, mainly cricket, at which he was very good. It was during these difficult years at boarding school, that Arthur realized he also had a talent for storytelling. He was often found, surrounded by a bevy of totally enraptured younger students, listening to the amazing stories he would make up to amuse them. Conan Doyle was found clutching his chest in the hall of Windlesham, his house in Crowborough, East Sussex, on 7 July 1930. He died of a heart attack at the age of 71