16 December 1899. Noel Coward, playwright, composer, director, actor, singer, and wit, was born in London. He wrote more than 65 plays and musicals, and more than 20 of them were adapted into films. He acted in 17 films, and composed numerous classic songs. pic.twitter.com/9GCSCti72f

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 16, 2022

16 December 1965. W Somerset Maugham died (aged 91). He was a hugely popular British novelist during the 1930s. George Orwell said he was “the modern writer who influenced me the most, who I admire immensely for his power of telling a story straightforwardly and without frills”. pic.twitter.com/aAzVSl8tLp

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 16, 2022

Emily Brontë, English author of 'Wuthering Heights', died #onthisday in 1848.
Learn 10 things you didn’t know about Emily Brontë https://t.co/nEhFnAjP9p pic.twitter.com/Oty7mYq8Xn

— History Press Local (@THP_Local) December 19, 2022

19 December 1843. Festive classic, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, was first published in book form. It tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser, who is visited by ghost of his business partner, Jacob Marley, and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. pic.twitter.com/hoe8T4xC4J

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 19, 2022

20 December 1968. Acclaimed American novelist, John Steinbeck, died (aged 66). He was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his realistic and imaginative writings”. Many of his novels are considered classics of Western literature, most notably, The Grapes of Wrath. pic.twitter.com/dX7DDt1bZv

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 20, 2022

#RIP #OTD in 1375 author (Decameron) and poet, correspondent of Petrarch, Renaissance humanist, the Certaldese, Giovanni Boccaccio died at the age of 62 in Certaldo, Tuscany, Italy. Chiesa dei Santi Jacopo e Filippo, Certaldo https://t.co/ps7wRwW9AB pic.twitter.com/cLXztxqE2b

— RIP The Final Footprint (@RIPTFF) December 21, 2022

21 December 1940. F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the greatest American novelists, died (aged 44). During his lifetime, he published 4 novels, This Side of Paradise, The Great Gatsby, The Beautiful and The Damned and Tender is The Night. He only received wide acclaim after his death. pic.twitter.com/hcmCerOf2b

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 21, 2022

22 December 1880. Leading Victorian novelist George Eliot (real name Mary Ann Evans), died (aged 61). She wrote 7 novels: Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Romola, Felix Holt, The Radical, Daniel Deronda and her masterpiece Middlemarch. pic.twitter.com/3t5ZlTXGxI

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 22, 2022

22 December 1943. The legendary children’s writer, Beatrix Potter, died (aged 77). She wrote thirty books, with the best known being her twenty-three children’s tales, most notably, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. pic.twitter.com/h3P6P7R5PX

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 22, 2022

22 December 1989. Irish born Nobel Prize winning playwright, novelist and poet, Samuel Beckett, died (aged 83). His best known play is Waiting for Godot which was voted the “most significant English language play of the 20th century” in a poll conducted by the National Theatre. pic.twitter.com/3d94g5u4wd

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 22, 2022

23 December 1815. The classic novel, Emma by Jane Austen, was published (though the original title page wrongly stated 1816). It’s set in the fictional village of Highbury and explores the concerns and difficulties of a group of middle class women living in a rural setting. pic.twitter.com/FJNeBMjdCP

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 23, 2022

23 December 1955. Acclaimed poet, Carol Ann Duffy, was born in Glasgow. She’s the Poet Laureate and the first openly LGBT person to hold the post. Her poems address issues such as oppression, gender, and violence in an accessible language that has made them popular in schools. pic.twitter.com/101am7wg71

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 23, 2022

24 December 2008. Nobel Prize winning dramatist, Harold Pinter, died (aged 78). He was one of the most influential British playwrights. His best-known plays include: The Birthday Party, and Betrayal. He also adapted many works for the cinema. pic.twitter.com/hYFhn7oFFM

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 24, 2022

24 December 2016. Richard Adams died (aged 96). His best known book was the children’s novel, Watership Down, a story about a small group of rabbits. It was adapted into an animated feature film in 1978. The signature tune, Bright Eyes, became a UK No.1 hit for Art Garfunkel pic.twitter.com/xFlOyRCL73

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 24, 2022

27 December 1904. The first performance in London of James Barrie’s most famous work, Peter Pan, took place. On 15 April 1925, Barrie donated his book copyright and royalties for Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London. pic.twitter.com/KFzBkWGf6Y

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 27, 2022

28 December 1973. Alexander Solzhenitsyn published his classic book, Gulag Archipelago, which was an expose of the Soviet forced labour prison system which led to the death of millions. pic.twitter.com/x47zSjbkVJ

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 28, 2022

Dead Alice 😉😘

29 December 1916. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the first novel by James Joyce, was published in the USA. The novel traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, who questions and rebels against the Catholic and Irish conventions. pic.twitter.com/1BKiz23PUk

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) December 29, 2022