H.g. Wells
HERBERT GEORGE WELLS, one of the most discussed living novelists, was born at Bromley, Kent, on September 21, 1866, the son of a famous professional cricket-player. His mother was an innkeeper's daughter who had been a lady's maid before her marriage. The boy had an irregular education, but he was quick to learn, and at the age of sixteen, after working as an attendant in a store, he secured a position as assistant in a grammar-school. He obtained a scholarship at London University, was graduated with high honors, and taught science in a private school.
In 1893 he began to write, doing articles for, and later becoming dramatic critic of, the "Pall Mall Gazette." He was already interested in social conditions and an untiring student of science. These two interests he combined in the series of romances that opened with "The Time Machine." In novels and short stories he created startling fantasies of the future, displaying his most abundant invention in "The War of the Worlds." He oftentimes discussed future wars in these stories and his forecasts were amazingly like what was seen on the battle-fields of Europe.
In the meantime he had been writing stories about contemporary life and books about social conditions. These he turned to more and more with the years. Of his later novels, bristling with wit and ideas, those that have been most widely read and discussed include "Kipps," "Tono-Bungay," "Ann Veronica," "The New Machiavelli," "Marriage," and "Joan and Peter," his latest novel. Most popular of all was "Mr. Britling Sees It Through," regarded by many as the best war novel written in English.