Authors

• 01

  Cobbett, William

  An outspoken critic of ‘deep state’ (he called it The Thing), and a champion of the working man, large families, and free speech.

  2 articles

• 02

  Austen, Jane

  Jane Austen was a wise and observant student of human nature and English society, whose finely-crafted novels have been repeatedly adapted for TV and cinema.

  1 article

A

• 01

  Acton, John Acton, 1st Baron

  A prominent English historian, who insisted on holding the strong men of politics to the same standards of morality as the rest of us.

  1 article

• 02

  Albert, Prince Consort

  Albert was the husband of Queen Victoria; his early death in 1861 was a grievous blow to the Queen, and took from the country a man of sound judgment and sincere philanthropy.

  1 article

• 03

  Alfred, Lord Tennyson

  Poet Laureate throughout much of the reign of Queen Victoria, Tennyson remains a firm favourite with the public.

  1 article

• 04

  Aristophanes

  Aristophanes was the leading comic playwright of classical Athens, who wrote some forty plays full of wit and sharp observation.

  1 article

• 05

  Armitage, Nicholas Richard

  Nicholas is the creator and editor of Clay Lane.

  2 articles

• 06

  Austen, Jane

  Jane Austen was a wise and observant student of human nature and English society, whose finely-crafted novels have been repeatedly adapted for TV and cinema.

  1 article

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B

• 01

  Bain, Francis William

  A classicist who worked for a time in Higher Education in India, Bain created a series of his own Indian myths that were full of charm, and sounded quite convincing.

  1 article

• 02

  Barbour, John

  John Barbour was fourteenth century Scottish clergyman, whose poem on the trials of King Robert the Bruce marked the birth of a new era in Scottish poetry.

  1 article

• 03

  Bede, St

  Bede was a humble English monk of ancient Northumbria, who wrote a groundbreaking English history that helped create the very idea of one English nation.

  2 articles

• 04

  Blair, Hugh

  A prominent Scottish professor of rhetoric, who in his own lifetime was widely regarded as the country’s highest authority on good English.

  1 article

• 05

  Book of Common Prayer, The

  In 1549, the Prayer Book became the first official English-langue service book of the English Church, a masterpiece of expression that remains unmatched.

  1 article

• 06

  Brown, Dr John

  A Scottish botanist and physician who tales about dogs and other animals entranced the Victorian public.

  1 article

• 07

  Buchan, John

  John Buchan was a key figure in Britain’s intelligence service during the Great War, making his novels about dashing spy Richard Hannay especially vidid.

  2 articles

• 08

  Butler, Samuel

  The author of ‘Erewhon’ (1872) and ‘The Way of All Flesh’ (1903) is remembered for his remarkably foresighted warnings about artificial intelligence.

  1 article

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C

• 01

  Clay Lane

  Clay Lane has been created to carry on NL Clay’s campaign for Starightforward English.

  11 articles

• 02

  Clay, NL

  2 articles

• 03

  Cobbett, William

  An outspoken critic of ‘deep state’ (he called it The Thing), and a champion of the working man, large families, and free speech.

  2 articles

• 04

  Cobden, Richard

  Richard Cobden was a Victorian statesman who campaigned tirelessly to stop the Government from meddling in citizens’ lives, free trade, and the affairs of other nations.

  1 article

• 05

  Collins, William Lucas

  An English classicist and translator, with a gift for making ancient Greece and Rome come alive for ordinary readers.

  1 article

• 06

  Creighton, Mandell

  Creighton was Bishop of London and one of England’s most honoured historians, who encouraged a sympathetic understanding of people of other times, and of other countries too.

  3 articles

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D

• 01

  Davies, Emily

  Emily Davies led the Victorian campaign to open education to girls on the same basis as boys, and founded Girton College in Cambridge.

  1 article

• 02

  Dickens, Charles

  One of English literature’s most celebrated and popular novelists, Charles Dickens was also a keen and intelligent observer of British society.

  1 article

• 03

  Doran, John

  A journalist and historian with a gift for reaching out to ordinary readers.

  1 article

• 04

  Dostoevsky, Fyodor

  One of Russia’s greatest writers, Dostoevsky’s deeply Christian beliefs and Russian soul helped him to explore the human heart as few novelists have ever done.

  1 article

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E

• 01

  Eliot, George

  George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans) took the English novel in new directions with her realism and her understanding of human nature.

  1 article

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F

• 01

  Fitch, Joshua

  An influential English teacher and educational theorist, who campaigned for girls to be given the same opportunities as boys.

  1 article

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G

• 01

  Gonzales, Manoel

  A Portuguese merchant, so he tells us; but some suspect that he was the creation of a satirical Englishman, perhaps Daniel Defoe.

  1 article

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H

• 01

  Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates

  For decades, Haydn’s Dictionary was a standard reference book on English history, with short, straightforward acounts.

  1 article

• 02

  Hazlitt, William

  William Hazlitt was an accomplished man in many fields, from writing to art, who exercised a long-lasting influence on literary criticism.

  1 article

• 03

  Hubbard, Elbert Green

  Hubbard was an American journalist and peace campaigner, who stood up for free thinking and free speaking.

  1 article

• 04

  Hunt, Leigh

  Leigh Hunt was an outspoken essayist, journalist and critic, who helped make the careers of Keats and Shelley.

  2 articles

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J

• 01

  Jonson, Ben

  Though overshadowed by his friend William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson deserves recognition as one of England’s greatest playwrights and literary critics.

  1 article

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K

• 01

  Kipling, Rudyard

  Bombay-born Kipling remains one of England’s most popular authors, thanks to touching poems such as ‘If’, and memorable characters from Mowgli to Kim.

  1 article

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L

• 01

  Lang, Andrew

  A Scottish authority on fables, folk-tale and fairy stories from around the world.

  1 article

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M

• 01

  Melmoth, William Henry

  An eighteenth-century editor and translator whose wrote ‘for the pleasure and improvement of every class’.

  1 article

• 02

  Mill, John Stuart

  John Stuart Mill was a Victorian philosopher who championed personal freedom and responsibility, rather than Government control.

  1 article

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P

• 01

  Pasco, John

  John Pasco’s illustrious career in the Royal Navy included being Nelson’s signal officer at Trafalgar.

  1 article

• 02

  Perrault, Charles

  A French civil servant with a very independent mind, who conjured up for us such fairy-tale favourites as Cinderella, Bluebeard, and Puss in Boots.

  2 articles

• 03

  Pike, Richard

  Victorian writer Richard Pike collected a well-regarded anthology of anecdotes arising from the railway revolution.

  1 article

• 04

  Planché, James Robinson

  James Robinson Planché’s most lasting influence was in theatre design, but his translations also helped to popularise classic fairy tales.

  2 articles

• 05

  Po Chu-i

  A China poet and civil servant whose tendency to speak his mind meant his career was a turbulent one.

  1 article

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R

• 01

  Reginald of Durham

  Reginald, a twelfth-century monk of Coldingham and Durham, left us some astonishing tales of the miracles of St Cuthbert.

  1 article

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S

• 01

  Shelley, Percy Bysshe

  A highly-strung, sensitive man, Shelley died young, but had already become one of England’s most admired poets.

  1 article

• 02

  Smiles, Samuel

  Scottish motivational writer Samuel Smiles helped the English working man to better his own prospects, without waiting for Government to do it for him.

  3 articles

• 03

  Smith, Saba

  Saba Smith, Lady Holland, was the daughter of the Revd Sydney Smith, and published a memoir of him.

  1 article

• 04

  Smith, Sydney

  A kindly clergyman, who was also a keenly observant student of human nature and English society.

  1 article

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T

• 01

  Tolstoy, Leo

  The author of the monumental ‘War and Peace’, a novel about Napoleon’s anti-Russian campaign, was also a stern but non-violent critic of oppressive Government.

  1 article

• 02

  Traditional

  2 articles

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W

• 01

  Waley, Arthur

  Waley was a highly-regarded (though amateur) expert on China, who opened Chinese literature to English-speaking readers.

  1 article

• 02

  Walton, Izaak

  Izaak Walton is remembered today for ‘The Compleat Angler’ and his trend-setting lives of prominent 17th-century Englishmen.

  1 article

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