1920 - He was born on the 9th of May in Newbury, Berkshire, England.

1940 - He served in the British Army for six years.

1948 - He was given a Class B discharge to continue his studies and he received a master's degree from

              Worcester College at Oxford University.

         - He was a senior civil servant who worked as an Assistant Secretary for the Department of Agriculture.

1972 - His best-known work has sold over 50 million copies world-wide, earning him more than all his other

                books put together.

1974 - He has been a full-time author of his second novel "Shardik".

1983 - He also contested the general election.

         - He now lives, with his wife, Elizabeth, within 10 miles of his birthplace.

• "The thinker dies, but his thoughts are beyond the reach of destruction. Men are mortal; but ideas are immortal."
• "My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today."
• "The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief, which is at the heart of all popular religion, that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart."