Robert Graves brings ancient Rome to life
On this day in 1985 the English writer and poet Robert Graves died aged 90. Graves was a classical scholar and his historical novels I... Read More
Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s life of exile
To listen to this post, click here – On this day in 1970 the Russian dissident author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize for... Read More
Benito Mussolini’s unsuccessful dictatorship
To listen to this post, click here – On this day in 1883 Benito Mussolini was born. He allied Italy with Nazi Germany and Japan... Read More
Erich Maria Remarque becomes a big noise in the West
On this day in 1898 the German writer Erich Maria Remarque was born. Conscripted into the German army aged 18, he wrote one of the... Read More
Sartre, De Beauvoir and “Hell is other people”
On this day in 1980 Jean Paul Sartre, philosopher and Existentialist, died in Paris. He refused the 1964 Nobel Prize for Literature saying that he... Read More
Vonnegut’s Survival in the Dresden Slaughterhouse
On this day in 2007 American author and artist Kurt Vonnegut Jr died aged 84. Vonnegut smoked untipped cigarettes most of his adult life, sardonically... Read More