Churchill, Henry V and Napoleon? Overrated, says BBC History magazine
Also among the most overrated people in history, according to the magazine, are Charles Darwin, Spartacus and Malcolm XThey may be among the most famous figures from history, but the likes of Winston Churchill, Henry V and Napoleon Bonaparte don't hack...
Churchill, Henry V and Napoleon? Overrated, says BBC History magazine
Also among the most overrated people in history, according to the magazine, are Charles Darwin, Spartacus and Malcolm XThey may be among the most famous figures from history, but the likes of Winston Churchill, Henry V and Napoleon Bonaparte don't hack...
New Year honours recognise successes in poetry, prose – and reality TV
Those honoured in arts include 'the finest living English poet', novelists, actors and the man behind the Big Brother formatThe arts awards in the honours list have a distinctly literary feel, with the poet Geoffrey Hill, elected last year as Oxford's ...
Sir Isaac Newton’s own annotated Principia Mathematica goes online
Cambridge University gives the public access to digitised science papers, revealing the calculations of famous mindsCambridge University is putting the papers of Sir Isaac Newton online for the first time, including his own annotated copy of his greate...
British Library’s early newspaper archive goes online
More than 4m pages, mostly from 19th-century newspapers, reveal that press intrusion and celebrity gossip are nothing new• The British Newspaper ArchiveAs the Leveson inquiry reveals fresh horrors about press behaviour every day, the British Library'...
Kerouac’s ‘lost’ debut novel is published 70 years after its conception at sea
Beat generation author Kerouac shows signs of future rebellion in 158-page maritime tale published by PenguinThe American beat generation author Jack Kerouac is said to have spent just eight days on active service in the US merchant marines on board th...
Murakami and King make bad sex shortlist
The Literary Review prepares to name the author responsible for the worst sex scene of the yearThe first thing that arises out of the nominations for this year's bad sex awards – the excruciating writing highlighted by the Literary Review each year
Clerics and Queen gather to mark 400 years of Bible translation
Westminster Abbey hosts ceremony to celebrate the authorised version of the Bible as presented to King James in 1611When the quarrelsome clerics who composed the authorised version of the Bible 400 years ago presented it to King James I of England, the...
Medieval monarchs’ books showcased by British Library
Illuminated manuscripts owned and annotated by kings and queens go on display in exhibitionFor more than 600 years England's medieval monarchs – many of them better known for their belligerence than their scholarship – collected illuminated manuscr...
Catch-22 author Joseph Heller: ‘How did I feel about the war? I enjoyed it?’
Letter by writer of famous anti-war novel reveals that, unlike the book's protagonist, he found his military service full of 'glamour'Fans of Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 may be surprised to learn that the American author actually enjoyed his militar...
Dahl’s family labelled ‘stingy’ in hut row
Public appeal to pay for relocation of writer's belongings causes fury among fans who say the family can easily afford itIt may have been a little optimistic of Roald Dahl's relatives to expect an outbreak of public philanthropy when they launched an a...
James Patterson declared world’s best-paid author by Forbes magazine
Patterson earned $84m in the year to April 2011, Danielle Steel $35m, Stephen King $28m and Janet Evanovich $22m The world's highest-paid author padded to the windows of his magnificent, yellow, colonial-style mansion overlooking the sea at Palm Beach....
