Leeds has given the world many outstanding personalities who have enriched British and world literature. These famous writers and poets lived in different eras, but all of them were born in the same city. Probably, many people have heard about them, but a few know that they began their lives in Leeds. Learn more at ileeds.info.
Some of them had astonishing life passes. For example, the journalist Ivan Noble was remembered for his desperate struggle with oncology. He described the entire process of his treatment and bravely faced the disease, thanks to which he gained a lot of public support. Until the last day of his life, he wrote down his own thoughts about the disease and its causes. His Tumour diary: The time has come became widely popular. After Noble’s death, the world saw another book, which was based on his battle with cancer. The above-mentioned information is noted by M.famousfix.com.
Alfred Austin
Alfred Austin went down in history as a famous poet and journalist. He was born in the Leeds suburb of Headingley on May 30, 1835. Austin’s father was a merchant. The future writer graduated from the University of London, and later, worked as a lawyer. However, in the end, he decided to devote his life to literature.
His debut satire The Season: A Satire was published in 1861, and in 1870, the writer published a collection of critical articles The Poetry of the Period. 10 years after that, Alfred Austin returned to writing poetic works and published Prince Lucifer, England’s Darling and The Conversion of Winckelmann and Other Poems.
At one time, Austin was the editor of National Review and wrote articles for The Standard. The author’s poetic and prose works are characterised by a sincere and heartfelt love for nature. Austin’s drama Flodden Field: A Tragedy was staged at London’s His Majesty’s Theatre in 1903.
The outstanding writer died at the age of 78 on June 2, 1913. In his homeland, he is remembered mainly as a famous novelist.
Arthur Ransome
Arthur Ransome is a famous British writer and journalist. He is known as the author of a series of children’s books and, at the same time, as a political spy.
He was born in Leeds on January 18, 1884. He lost his father at an early age. At first, young Arthur studied in Windermere and then attended the prestigious private school at Rugby. Later, he entered the university but didn’t end his studies there. Ransome began his career as an office assistant in a publishing company. He wrote his first book, Bohemia in London, in 1907.
In 1913, he visited the Russian Empire for the first time and repeated his trips several times in the following years. He became interested in the ideas of Bolshevism and supported the local coup, which resulted in the overthrow of tsarism. He even managed to interview Lenin and Trotsky. He also married Evgenia Shelepina, Leon Trotsky’s secretary.
In the period 1931-1947, he published a series of children’s books, Swallows and Amazons. Those literary works established him as a talented children’s writer. Arthur Ransome died on June 3, 1967. He is also known for being the first winner of the Carnegie Medal for his children’s books.
John Rowe Townsend
John Rowe Townsend is an outstanding British writer and literary critic. He was born in Leeds on May 19, 1922. John studied at Leeds Grammar School and Emmanuel College. His most famous book is a children’s detective story The Intruder, for which he won an Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1971. The novel was recognized as Best Juvenile Mystery by the Mystery Writers of America. In his homeland, this story was adapted into a children’s series with Milton Johns in the role of the stranger. For some time, John Rowe Townsend worked as an editor for The Guardian and edited the newspaper’s children’s books.
John Rowe Townsend lived quite a long life and published many books, so his bibliography turned out to be quite rich. Some of his literary works are
- Downstream
- Islanders
- Pirate’s Island
- Top of the world
- and others.
He also had academic papers. A reference series Written for Children: An Outline of English Children’s Literature is one of them. The writer died on March 24, 2014.
Source: Theguardian.com
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett’s field of activity was drama and writing. He also gained popularity as an actor, screenwriter and director. Alan Bennett was born in Leeds on May 9, 1934. He studied Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists and history at Oxford University. In addition, Bennett performed as a part of the university comedy group during his student years. Having graduated, he taught mediaeval history at the university for some time and was engaged in its research.
He instantly became famous by taking part in the satirical show Beyond the Fringe at the Edinburgh Festival in 1960. Alan Bennett is an eccentric writer in many respects. He was an agnostic and has renounced religion. He also declined the Order of the British Empire as well as knighthood. The writer encountered cancer and didn’t believe that he would manage to overcome the disease. In order to preserve his memory, he wrote Untold Stories, which should have been published after his death. However, the disease went into remission.
Ivan Noble
Ivan Noble also faced severe oncology, but, unfortunately, he didn’t win the fight. The journalist and writer was born in Leeds on June 30, 1967. He learned at comprehensive schools in Luton and Leeds and then studied German at Aston University in Birmingham.
Then Ivan lived in East Germany and worked as a translator. He was also involved in teaching Internet journalism, which was gaining momentum at that time. Noble joined BBC News Online in 2001, first as a translator and later as a sub-editor. He worked in the Science and Technology section of the official BBC News website and was very enthusiastic about complicated gadgetry.
We don’t know how Noble’s life would have turned out if he had not been diagnosed with oncology at the age of 35. He had glioblastoma multiforme and managed to live for more than two years after being diagnosed, even going into remission for a while. The man didn’t give up and courageously fought the disease. He even started to write a website series for fans, commenting on the course of his treatment.
Thousands of users of the BBC News website regularly followed his series, hoping that Noble would get through it. Unfortunately, the cancer turned out to be stronger. Noble passed away at the tender age of 37 on January 31, 2005. However, his story has become an example of strength of spirit and resilience in the face of circumstances. His amazing, although unfairly short, life path was remembered by many British.
Ivan Noble had a wife and two children. He hoped for recovery, so the spouses had a second child during the husband’s short remission. The journalist carefully hid his personal life from the public.
Leeds is a city of flourishing talents, so it isn’t surprising that many outstanding literary figures were born and lived here. The above-mentioned personalities are just a small part of those who glorified Leeds in Great Britain and abroad.