-
673
Bede
The Venerable Bede, in his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people -
800
Beowulf
Beowulf, the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons -
950
Elder, the Eddas
The material of the Eddas, taking shape in Iceland, derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain and Burgundy -
1300
Don Scotus
Duns Scotus, known as the Subtle Doctor in medieval times, later provides humanists with the name Dunsman or dunce -
1340
William of Ockham
William of Ockham advocates paring down arguments to their essentials, an approach later known as Ockham's Razor -
1367
Piers Plowman
A narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman -
1375
Sir Gawain
The courtly poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tells of a mysterious visitor to the round table of King Arthur -
1385
Chaucer
Chaucer completes Troilus and Criseyde, his long poem about a legendary love affair in ancient Troy -
1469
Thomas Malory
Thomas Malory, in gaol somewhere in England, compiles Morte d'Arthur – an English account of the French tales of King Arthur -
1510
Christian humanism
Erasmus and Thomas More take the northern Renaissance in the direction of Christian humanism -
1524
William Tyndale
William Tyndale studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English -
1549
English prayer book
The first version of the English prayer book, or Book of Common Prayer, is published with text by Thomas Cranmer -
1567
New testament
The Book of Common Prayer and the New Testament are published in Welsh, to be followed by the complete Bible in 1588 -
Marlowe
Marlowe's first play, Tamburlaine the Great, introduces the swaggering blank verse of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama -
Shakespeare - Richard III
After tentative beginnings in the three parts of Henry VI, Shakespeare achieves his first masterpiece on stage with Richard III -
Hamlet
Shakespeare's central character in Hamlet expresses both the ideals of the Renaissance and the disillusion of a less confident age -
Bible
James I commissions the Authorized version of the Bible, which is completed by forty-seven scholars in seven years -
Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson writes The Masque of Blackness, the first of his many masques for the court of James I -
Sonnets
Shakespeare's sonnets, written ten years previously, are published -
John Smith
John Smith publishes A Description of New England, an account of his exploration of the region in 1614 -
Anne Bradstreet
The poems of Massachusetts author Anne Bradstreet are published in London under the title The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America -
Izaak Walton
Devoted fisherman Izaak Walton publishes the classic work on the subject, The Compleat Angler -
Pilgrim´s Progress
Part I of The Pilgrim's Progress, written during John Bunyan's two spells in Bedford Gaol, is published and is immediately popular -
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn's novel Oroonoko makes an early protest against the inhumanity of the African slave trade -
John Locke
John Locke publishes his Essay concerning Human Understanding, arguing that all knowledge is based on experience -
Newspaper
The Tatler launches a new style of journalism in Britain's coffee houses, followed two years later by the Spectator -
George Berkeley
25-year-old George Berkeley attacks Locke in his Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge -
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock introduces a delicate vein of mock-heroic in English poetry -
First English novel
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, with its detailed realism, can be seen as the first English novel -
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift sends his hero on a series of bitterly satirical travels in Gulliver's Travels -
David Hume
David Hume publishes his Treatise of Human Nature, in which he applies to the human mind the principles of experimental science -
The longest novel
Samuel Richardson's Clarissa begins the correspondence that grows into the longest novel in the English language -
Dictionary
Samuel Johnson publishes his magisterial Dictionary of the English Language -
Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne publishes the first two volumes of Tristram Shandy, beginning with the scene at the hero's conception -
Horace Walpole
English author Horace Walpole provides an early taste of Gothic thrills in his novel Castle of Otranto -
Encyclopaedia Britannica
A Society of Gentlemen in Scotland begins publication of the immensely successful Encyclopaedia Britannica -
Edward Gibbon
English historian Edward Gibbon publishes the first volume of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire -
Adam Smith
Scottish economist Adam Smith analyzes the nature and causes of the Wealth of Nations -
William Blake
William Blake publishes Songs of Innocence, a volume of his poems with every page etched and illustrated by himself -
Edmund Burke
Anglo-Irish politician Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, a blistering attack on recent events across the Channel -
Rights of man
Thomas Paine publishes the first part of The Rights of Man, his reply to Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France -
Rights of woman
English author Mary Wollstonecraft publishes a passionately feminist work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman -
Age of reason
Thomas Paine publishes his completed Age of Reason, an attack on conventional Christianity -
Wordsworth and Coleridge
English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge jointly publish Lyrical Ballads, a milestone in the Romantic movement -
Walter Scott
Walter Scott publishes The Lay of the Last Minstrel, the long romantic poem that first brings him fame -
Jane Austen
English author Jane Austen publishes her first work in print, Sense and Sensibility, at her own expense -
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, a Gothic tale about giving life to an artificial man. Two of Jane Austen's novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, are published in the year after her death. -
Lord Byron
Byron begins publication in parts of his longest poem, Don Juan an epic satirical comment on contemporary life -
Charles Dickens
24-year-old Charles Dickens begins monthly publication of his first work of fiction, Pickwick Papers (published in book form in 1837) -
Benjamin Disraeli
In his novel Coningsby Benjamin Disraeli develops the theme of Conservatism uniting 'two nations', the rich and the poor -
Friederick Engles
Friedrich Engels, after running a textile factory in Manchester, publishes The Condition of the Working Class in England -
David Copperfield
Charles Dickens begins the publication in monthly numbers of David Copperfield, his own favourite among his novels -
Alfred Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson's elegy for a friend, In Memoriam, captures perfectly the Victorian mood of heightened sensibility -
Dictionary of synonyms
London physician Peter Mark Roget publishes his dictionary of synonyms, the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases -
Theorigin of species
Charles Darwin puts forward the theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species, the result of 20 years' research
In On Liberty John Stuart Mill makes the classic liberal case for the priority of the freedom of the individual
Tennyson publishes the first part of Idylls of the King, a series of linked poems about Britain's mythical king Arthur
Charles Dickens publishes his French Revolution novel, A Tale of Two Cities -
Victorian melodramas
Mrs Henry Wood publishes her first novel, East Lynne, which becomes the basis of the most popular of all Victorian melodramas -
Lewis Carroll
Oxford mathematician Lewis Carroll tells 10-year-old Alice Liddell, on a boat trip, a story about her own adventures in Wonderland -
Matthew Arnold
English author Matthew Arnold publishes Culture and Anarchy, an influential collection of essays about contemporary society -
Sprung rhythm
English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins develops a new verse form that he calls 'sprung rhythm' -
Aesthetic movement
The Aesthetic Movement and 'art for art's sake', attitudes personified above all by Whistler and Wilde, are widely mocked and satirized in Britain -
The A volume
Oxford University Press publishes the A volume of its New English Dictionary, which will take 37 years to reach Z -
Richard Burton
Explorer and orientalist Richard Burton begins publication of his multi-volume translation from the Arabic of The Arabian Nights -
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson introduces a dual personality in his novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde -
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes features in Conan Doyle's first novel, A Study in Scarlet -
Socialism influency
23-year-old Irish author William Butler Yeats publishes his first volume of poems, The Wanderings of Oisin The Fabian Society publishes Essays in Socialisman influential volume of essays edited by Bernard Shaw -
James Frazer
Scottish anthropologist James Frazer publishes The Golden Bough, a massive compilation of contemporary knowledge about ritual and religious custom -
Oscar Wilde
A Gaelic pressure group, the Highland Association, is founded to preserve the indigenous poetry and music of Scotland Oscar Wilde publishes his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in which the ever-youthful hero's portrait grows old and ugly Thomas Hardy publishes his novel Tess of the Durbervilles, with a dramatic finale at Stonehenge -
W,B, Yeats
Oscar Wilde's comedy Lady Windermere's Fan is a great success with audiences in London
W.B. Yeats founds the National Literary Society in Dublin, with Douglas Hyde as its first president.
W.B. Yeats publishes a short play The Countess Cathleen, his first contribution to Irish poetic drama
Bernard Shaw's first play, Widowers' Houses, deals with the serious social problem of slum landlords
Mr Pooter is the suburban anti-hero of the The Diary of a Nobody, by George and Weedon Grossmith -
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book surrounds the child Mowgli with a collection of vivid animal guardians -
H.G. Wells
Oscar Wilde's most brilliant comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest is performed in London's St. James Theatre Oscar Wilde loses a libel case that he has brought against the marquess of Queensberry for describing him as a sodomite Oscar Wilde is sent to Reading Gaol to serve a two-year sentence with hard labour after being convicted of homosexuality H.G. Wells publishes The Time Machine, a story about a Time Traveller whose first stop on his journey is the year 802701 -
Bram Stoker
Somerset Maugham publishes his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, based on the London life he has observed as a medical student English author Bram Stoker publishes Dracula, his gothic tale of vampirism in Transylvania -
Edith Nesbit
E. Nesbit publishes The Story of the Treasure Seekers, introducing the Bastable family who feature in several of her books for children -
Just So Stories for Little Children
Rudyard Kipling publishes his Just So Stories for Little Children The play Cathleen ni Houlihan, by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, fosters Irish nationalism. John Masefield's poem 'Sea Fever' is published in Salt-Water Ballads Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles begins publication in serial form. Henry James publishes the first of his three last novels, The Wings of the Dove Joseph Conrad publishes a collection of stories based partly on his own journey up the Congo -
G.E. Moore
Erskine Childers has a best-seller in The Riddle of the Sands, a thriller about a planned German invasion of Britain Henry James publishes The Ambassadors, the second of his three last novels written in rapid succession British philosopher G.E. Moore publishes Principia Ethica, an attempt to apply logic to ethics -
J.M. Barrie
Joseph Conrad publishes his novel Nostromo, about a revolution in South America and a fatal horde of silver Henry James publishes his last completed novel, The Golden Bowl J.M Barrie's play for children Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up has its premiere in London Under the pseudonym Saki, H.H. Munro publishes Reginald, his first volume of short stories -
The Bloomsbury group
The Bloomsbury Group gathers for informal evenings at the family home of Virginia and Vanessa Stephens (later Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell) Oscar Wilde's De Profundis, a letter of recrimination written in Reading Gaol to Lord Alfred Douglas, is published posthumously H.G. Wells publishes Kipps: the story of a simple soul, a comic novel about a bumbling draper's assistant Sir Percy Blakeney rescues aristocrats from the guillotine in Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel -
John Galsworthy
The first volume of the inexpensive Everyman's Library is issued by Joseph Dent, a London publisher E. Nesbit publishes The Railway Children, the most successful of her books featuring the Bastable family John Galsworthy publishes The Man of Property, the first of his novels chronicling the family of Soames Forsyte -
Ann Veronica
The heroine of H.G. Wells' novel Ann Veronica is a determined example of the New Woman -
John Masefield
In his poem Cargoes, John Masefield compares a 'dirty British coaster' with two romantic boats from the past John Buchan publishes Prester John, the first of his adventure stories H.G. Wells publishes The History of Mr Polly, a novel about an escape from drab everyday existence Rudyard Kipling publishes If, which rapidly becomes his most popular poem among the British E.M. Forster publishes Howard's End, his novel about the Schlegel sisters and the Wilcox family -
Max Beerbohm
D.H. Lawrence's career as a writer is launched with the publication of his first novel, The White Peacock Rupert Brooke publishes Poems, the only collection to appear before his early death in World War I In a German Pension is New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield's first collection of stories Max Beerbohm publishes his novel Zuleika Dobson, in which the beauty of his heroine causes havoc among the students at Oxford -
Prinicipia Mathemathica
The first issue of the New Statesman is published by Beatrice and Sidney Webb Compton Mackenzie publishes the first volume of his autobiographical novel Sinister Street Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell complete a work of mathematical logic, Principia Mathematica D.H. Lawrence publishes a semi-autobiographical novel about the Morel family, Sons and Lovers -
The Times Literary Supplemen
James Joyce's novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man begins serial publication in a London journal, The Egoist James Joyce's Dubliners, a collection of short stories, is published The Times Literary Supplement is published in London as an independent paper, separate from The Times Robert Tressell's Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is published posthumously in an abbreviated version -
Virginia Wolf
Somerset Maugham publishes his semi-autobiographical novel Of Human Bondage The English writer Virginia Woolf publishes her first novel, The Voyage Out D.H. Lawrence's novel about the Brangwen family, The Rainbow, is seized by the police as an obscene work Secret agent Richard Hannay makes his first appearance in John Buchan's Thirty-Nine Steps Rupert Brooke's 1914 and Other Poems is published a few months after his death in Greece -
Agatha Christie
Sapper's patriotic hero makes his first appearance, taking on the villainous Carl Peterson in Bull-dog Drummond D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love, a continuation of the family story in The Rainbow, is published first in the USA The Belgian detective Hercule Poirot features in Agatha Christie's first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles -
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Somerset Maugham's short story 'Rain' (in his collection The Trembling of a Leaf) introduces the lively American prostitute Sadie Thompson Ludwig Wittgenstein publishes his influential study of the philosophy of logic, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus -
E.M. Forster
E.M. Forster's novel A Passage to India builds on cultural misconceptions between the British and Indian communities Christopher Robin features for the first time in A.A. Milne's When We Were Very Young -
Mrs Dalloway
English writer Ivy Compton-Burnett finds her characteristic voice in her second novel, Pastors and Masters Virginia Woolf publishes her novel Mrs Dalloway, in which the action is limited to a single day -
A.A. Milne
Patrick Abercrombie publishes The Preservation of Rural England, calling for rural planning to prevent the encroachment of towns T.E. Lawrence publishes privately his autobiographical Seven Pillars of Wisdom, describing his part in the Arab uprising Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and the others make their first appearance in A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh Hugh MacDiarmid writes his long poem A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle in a revived version of the Lallans dialect of the Scottish borders -
Henry Williamson
Henry Williamson wins a wide readership with Tarka the Otter, a realistic story of the life and death of an otter in Devon Anglo-Irish author Elizabeth Bowen publishes her first novel, The Hotel Virginia Woolf uses a Hebridean holiday as the setting for her narrative in To The Lighthouse -
Radclyffe Hall
Caribbean-born author Jean Rhys publishes her first novel, Postures, based on her affair with the writer Ford Madox Ford Siegfried Sassoon publishes Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man. Set in a World War I trench, the play Journey's End reflects the wartime experiences of its British author, R.C. Sherriff Evelyn Waugh succeeds with a comic first novel, Decline and Fall Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness is the first to deal openly with a lesbian subject -
Memorable History of England
English author W.H. Auden's first collection of poetry is published with the title Poems Swallows and Amazons is the first of Arthur Ransome's adventure stories for children. Agatha Christie's Miss Marple makes her first appearance, in Murder at the Vicarage A spoof history text book, 1066 and all that, is justifiably described by its authors, Walter Sellar and Robert Yeatman, as a Memorable History of England -
Logical positivism
John Maynard Keynes defines his economics in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money In Language, Truth and Logic 26-year-old A.J. Ayer produces a classic exposition of Logical Positivism Terence Rattigan's first play, French without Tears, is performed in London -
Enid Blyton
English children's author Enid Blyton introduces the Famous Five in Five on a Treasure Island -
Nancy Mitford
English author Nancy Mitford has her first success with the novel The Pursuit of Love Evelyn Waugh publishes Brideshead Revisited, a novel about a rich Catholic family in England between the wars In George Orwell's fable Animal Farm a ruthless pig, Napoleon, controls the farmyard using the techniques of Stalin -
Mervyn Peake
Titus Groan begins British author Mervyn Peake's trilogy of gothic novels -
J.B. Priestley
English author and alcoholic Malcolm Lowry publishes an autobiographical novel, Under the Volcano J.B. Priestley challenges audiences with An Inspector Calls, a play in which moral guilt spreads like an infection -
c. s. Lewis
C.S. Lewis gives the first glimpse of Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe British author Doris Lessing publishes her first novel, The Grass is Singing -
Nikolaus Pevsner
British author John Wyndham creates a dark fantasy in his novel The Day of the Triffids A Question of Upbringing begins Anthony Powell's 'A Dance to the Music of Time' British art historian Nikolaus Pevsner undertakes a massive task, a county-by-county description of The Buildings of England -
Angry Young Men
Kingsley Amis and other young writers in Britain become known as Angry Young Men Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American is set in contemporary Vietnam and foresees troubles ahead English poet Philip Larkin finds his distinctive voice in his collection The Less Deceived British philologist J.R.R. Tolkien publishes the third and final volume of his epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings -
Ian Fleming
English author L.P. Hartley sets his novel The Go-Between in the summer of 1900 James Bond, agent 007, has a licence to kill in Ian Fleming's first novel, Casino Royale -
Stevie Smith
The Hawk in the Rain is English author Ted Hughes' first volume of poems The publication of the novel Justine launches Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet English author John Braine publishes his first novel, Room at the Top English author Stevie Smith publishes her collection of poems Not Waving but Drowning Laurence Olivier brings the music-hall artist Archie Rice vibrantly to life in John Osborne's The Entertainer -
Winston Churchill
Dylan Thomas's 'play for voices', Under Milk Wood, is broadcast on BBC radio, with Richard Burton as narrator Politician and author Winston Churchill completes his six-volume history The Second World War Anglo-Irish novelist Iris Murdoch publishes her first novel, Under the Net English author Kingsley Amis's first novel, Lucky Jim, strikes an anti-establishment chord William Golding gives a chilling account of schoolboy savagery in his first novel, Lord of the Flies -
Lady Chatterley's Lover
English poet John Betjeman publishes his long autobiographical poem Summoned by Bells Paul Scofield plays Thomas More in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons Penguin Books are prosecuted for obscenity for publishing D.H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, and are acquitted -
Doris Lessing
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, setting poems by Wilfred Owen, is first performed in the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral British author Doris Lessing publishes an influential feminist novel, The Golden Notebook British author P.D. James's first novel, Cover Her Face, introduces her poet detective Adam Dalgleish Anthony Burgess publishes A Clockwork Orange, a novel depicting a disturbing and violent near-future -
A.S. Byatt
Roald Dahl publishes a fantasy treat for a starving child, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory English author A.S. Byatt publishes her first novel, Shadow of a Sun -
Paul Scott
English novelist Paul Scott publishes The Jewel in the Crown, the first volume in his 'Raj Quartet' Irish poet Seamus Heaney wins critical acclaim for Death of a Naturalist, his first volume containing more than a few poems After a long period of obscurity, Wide Sargasso Sea brings novelist Jean Rhys back into the literary limelight Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard, is produced at the Edinburgh Festival -
Angela Carter
English author Angela Carter wins recognition with her quirky second novel, The Magic Toyshop English playwright Alan Ayckbourn has his first success with Relatively Speaking Three young Liverpool poets publish a shared anthology under the title The Mersey Sound A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, by English dramatist Peter Nichols, has its premiere in London -
Ernst Friedrich Schumacher
British economist Ernst Friedrich Schumacher publishes an influential economic tract, Small is Beautiful Martin Amis, son of Kingsley Amis, publishes his first novel, The Rachel Papers -
Iris Murdoch
Iris Murdoch publishes The Sea, the Sea, and wins the 1978 Booker Prize English author Andrew Motion publishes his first collection of poems, The Pleasure Steamers British author Ian McEwan publishes his first novel, The Cement Garden -
Salman Rushdie
War Music is the first instalment of Christopher Logue's version of the Iliad Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children uses the moment of India's independence to launch an adventure in magic realism English author Anita Brookner publishes her first novel, A Start in Life -
Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn's farce Noises Off opens in London's West end -
Nicholas Kaldor
British economist Nicholas Kaldor attacks monetarism in The Economic Consequences of Mrs Thatcher Ronald Harwood's play The Dresser is partly inspired by the British actor Donald Wolfit -
Benjamin Zephaniah
British Rasta poet Benjamin Zephaniah publishes his second collection as The Dread Affair -
Partingtime Hall
English poets John Fuller and James Fenton collaborate in a volume of satirical poems, Partingtime Hall Talking Heads, a series of dramatic monologues by English author Alan Bennett, is broadcast on British TV -
Stephen Hawking
Ayatollah Khomeini declares a fatwa against Salman Rushdie for his Satanic Verses British physicist Stephen Hawking explains the cosmos for the general reader in A Brief History of Time: from the Big Bang to Black Holes -
Racing Demon
Racing Demon launches a trilogy on the British establishment by English playwright David Hare -
Pat Barker
Alan Bennett's play The Madness of George III is performed at the National Theatre in London Regeneration is the first volume of English author Pat Barker's trilogy of novels set during World War I -
Thom Gunn
English poet Thom Gunn's The Man with Night Sweats deals openly with AIDS -
Irvine Welsh
English novelist Sebastian Faulks publishes Birdsong, set partly in the trenches of World War I Vikram Seth publishes his novel A Suitable Boy, a family saga in post-independence India Scottish author Irvine Welsh publishes his first novel, Trainspotting -
Ted Hughes
The poems forming Ted Hughes's Birthday Letters describe his relationship with Sylvia Plath A schoolboy wizard performs his first tricks in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone -
Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen dramatizes the visit of Werner Heisenberg to Niels Bohr in wartime Denmark -
Philip Pullman
The Amber Spyglass completes Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials
