This summer we took a trip to London, making a not-so-quick detour to Kensal Green Cemetery to find Wilkie Collins' grave. The Victorian author is most well-known for his mystery novels "The Woman in White" and "The Moonstone", and was friends with Charles Dickens. Wilkie Collins was born in London in 1824. His father, William... Continue Reading →
London is the last resting place of many famous writers, including William Blake and Daniel Defoe. You'll find them in the ancient burial ground at Bunhill Fields Burial Ground in Islington. London has many old burial grounds. The ever-expanding city swallowed up local villages and churchyards. Graves disappeared between towering modern high-rise buildings. History hidden... Continue Reading →
Born Cicily Isabel Fairfax in 1892, Rebecca West was a writer, literary critic, and journalist, named "indisputably the world's number one woman writer" by Time magazine in 1947. Both a CBE and DBE, West died in 1983 and is buried in Brookwood Cemetery. Cicily took the pseudonym "Rebecca West" from the rebellious young heroine in "Rosmersholm" by Henrik Ibsen... Continue Reading →
It's always worth doing a bit of research before you travel, whether it be to somewhere you've been before or somewhere new. Before a recent walk, I did a bit of a search of the local area and discovered an authors grave I hadn't visited before. So I took a quick detour to St Mary's... Continue Reading →
C.S. Lewis is best known for his Chronicles of Narnia, with "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", being a perennial childhood favourite. He's buried in a small church graveyard, tucked away in what was probably once a village but has now been swallowed up into the Oxford suburbs. A handy sign points you to... Continue Reading →
Any fan of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ will know that its eponymous heroine is based on a real person. Alice Liddell was the fourth child in the Liddell family. They were friends with Charles Dodgson AKA Lewis Carroll and it was on a boating trip that he whipped up the tale of Alice and the White... Continue Reading →
I've never read any of Christie's books but I'm very aware of her contribution to literature. Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot are legendary characters. I'm especially familiar with the latter thanks to David Suchet's portrayal of him in the TV series my mother loved to watch. St Mary's Church, Cholsey Despite her huge success, Agatha... Continue Reading →
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