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10 Facts You Never Knew About Your Favourite Authors

Last week, we brought you '10 Book Facts to Blow Your Mind'. Now, we present you with: 10 Facts You Never Knew About Your Favourite Authors!

17 April, 2018

Last week, we brought you '10 Book Facts to Blow Your Mind'. Now, we present you with: 10 Facts You Never Knew About Your Favourite Authors!

1. Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl, a guy who wrote about chocolate factories and witches actually worked as a spy during World War II.

2. John Grisham

John Grisham was working in the Mississippi House of Representatives when his first attempt at a novel was rejected 28 times before someone finally decided to publish it.

3. Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, fought his first duel at the age of 23. Although he sustained no serious injuries, his pants did fall down during the event.

4. Oscar Wilde

One of the great wits in history, Oscar Wilde’s last words were, “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has got to go.”

5. George Orwell

Perhaps fittingly given his themes and style, George Orwell’s first word was, reportedly, “beastly.”

6. J.R.R. Tolkien

It’s said that Tolkien knew roughly 20 languages - which is maybe why it was so easy for him to create his own, full Elvish language.

7. George Eliot

George Eliot was actually a woman. Mary Ann Evans wrote under this pen name because women authors were not as highly regarded as men. As George Eliot, Evans wrote several novels considered among the best of all time.

8. Agatha Christie

 Agatha Christie said she liked to think out her stories while eating apples and relaxing in a warm bath. Considering she is one of the most celebrated authors of all time, we'd say that her method worked!

9. D.H. Lawrence

British novelist, D. H. Lawrence, would actually climb mulberry trees totally naked to help stimulate his imagination when writing his novels.

10. Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy wrote with the same typewriter for more than 50 years. When it broke, he auctioned it off to raise proceeds for the Sante Fe institute. It sold for over $250,000 in 2009.