Timeline of Chiswick Writers & Books

Just some of the books written in the past 600 years by authors connected with Chiswick, west London.

Chiswick may be Britain’s most literary location – The Observer

To prove it we’ve identified close to 500 writers who have written a book, poem, play or script for film or television and lived in Chiswick W4, or have written books about the area.  It includes the creators of some of the country’s greatest works, from Thackeray’s Vanity Fair to Osborne’s Look Back in Anger and Pinter’s The Caretaker.

This page lists, in chronological order, the 378 authors for whom we have years of birth. All of the 486 writers we know can be found on our fiction and non-fiction listings. If you’d to appear on the timeline below, email your year of birth to admin@chiswickbookfestival.net

Our Writers Trail map features 36 notable novelists, poets and playwrights. These are displayed below in CAPITAL LETTERS.
And for more information, our Writers Tales page carries links to anecdotes, pictures and articles.

Year of BirthNameKnown For
1561LADY MARY SIDNEYSidney Psalter
1572JOHN DONNEDeath Be Not Proud
1598Herbert ThorndikeOf the Government of Churches
1615Sir John DenhamCooper’s Hill
1641Edward BaynardHealth; a Poem
1643Sir John ChardinJournal du voiage du Chevalier Chardin en Perse et aux Indes orientales la Mer Noire et par la Colchide
1684Joseph MillerJoe Miller’s Jests
1688ALEXANDER POPEThe Rape of The Lock
1689SAMUEL RICHARDSONPamela; or, Virtue Rewarded
1697William HogarthThe Analysis of Beauty
1703Thomas MorellJudas Maccabaeus
1705David Mallet (David Malloch)William and Margaret
1705James RalphJames Ralph
1712Jean-Jacques RousseauThe Social Contract
1720RALPH GRIFFITHSThe Monthly Review
1727Lady Mary CokeThe Letters and Journals of Lady Mary Coke
1737ELIZABETH MOODYTo A Lady Who Was A Great Talker
1738Dorothea CelesiaAlmida
1757GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIREEmma; Or, The Unfortunate Attachment: A Sentimental Novel
1763Mary BerrySocial Life in England and France from the French Revolution
1764Ann RadcliffeThe Romance of the Forest
1772HENRY FRANCIS CARYThe Divine Comedy
1775Daniel O’ConnellAn Historical Memoir: Ireland and the Irish
1778UGO FOSCOLODei Sepolcri
1788Sir Francis RonaldsA Description of an Electric Telegraph
1799John LindleyEncyclopedia of Plants
1803Joseph PaxtonThe Gardeners’ Chronicle
1811WM THACKERAYVanity Fair
1812Robert FortuneA Journey to the Tea Countries of China
1813Rev William CottonMy Bee Book
1817Edward Robert KellyKelly’s Directory
1819Queen VictoriaQueen Victoria’s Journals
1819Thomas LaytonThe Layton Collection
1826Thomas Harrington TukeJournal of Mental Science
1831George Manville FennOnce a Week
1832Sir Edwin ArnoldThe Light of Asia
1834Frederick WaltonThe Infancy and Development of Linoleum
1834James McNeill WhistlerThe Gentle Art of Making Enemies
1834WILLIAM MORRISNews from Nowhere
1837Henry Fox BourneJohn Stuart Mill: His Life and Works
1839Dr John TodhunterThree Bardic Tales
1839Mary Cecil HayThe Squire’s Legacy
1841Mary Popham BlythThe Queen’s Jewel
1843James SimeHistory of Germany
1847Richard Bowdler SharpeCatalogue of the Birds in the British Museum
1847Robert StevensonEngraving
1848Lewis Pinhorn WoodHarry Goodchild’s Day Dream
1848Thomas BolasThe Chiswick Level Crossing Fatality
1849Maurice B AdamsBuilding News
1849WE HenleyInvictus
1850Frederick York PowellCorpus Poeticum Boreale: Court Poems
1850Thomas Alfred SpaldingElizabethan Demonology
1851Charles Elkin MathewsThe Yellow Book
1851Llewellyn Atherley-JonesMiner’s Manual
1851SERGIUS STEPNIAKUnderground Russia
1852Goddard Henry OrpenIreland under the Normans
1853Sir Herbert Beerbohm TreeHenry VIII and His Court
1853WPW PhillimoreHistoric Collections Relating to Chiswick
1855Adela OrpenCorrageen in ’98: a story of the Irish rebellion
1855SIR ARTHUR WING PINERO The Second Mrs Tanqueray
1857Edwin Lester ArnoldGulliver of Mars
1858CJ CornishThe Naturalist on the Thames
1859Nelson DawsonGoldsmiths’ and Silversmiths’ Work
1863Edgar Jepson (R. Edison Page)Arsène Lupin
1865WB YEATSSailing to Byzantium
1867Roger IngpenStorm Boy
1867Sir Sydney CockerellThe Book Of Hours Of Yolande Of Flanders
1868Jessie Georgina SimeThe Mistress of All Work
1869Dan RiderAdventures With Bernard Shaw
1869Lindsay Philip ButterfieldFloral Forms in Historic Design
1869St John HankinThe Return of the Prodigal
1872Edward Gordon CraigOn the Art of the Theatre
1872Sir Charles (CB) CochranSecrets of a Showman
1873Ford Madox FordParade’s End
1873George Reginald BacchusThe Confessions of Nemesis Hunt
1874GK CHESTERTONFather Brown
1874Isa BowmanThe Story of Lewis Carroll, Told for Young People by the Real Alice in Wonderland
1874Sir Nigel PlayfairWhen Crummies Played
1875Cyril Gull (Guy Thorne)When It Was Dark: The Story of A Great Conspiracy
1875EDGAR WALLACEThe Four Just Men
1876Mark Edward PeruginiThe Art of Ballet
1876Sir Percy HarrisForty Years In and Out of Parliament, London and its Government
1878Sydney BlowWhere Is This Lady?
1879EM FORSTERA Room With a View
1884JC SQUIREThe London Mercury
1886ALAIN FOURNIERThe Lost Domain
1887Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery of AlameinThe Memoirs of Field Marshal Montgomery
1887KC BarnabyBasic Naval Architecture
1887Violet JessopTitanic Survivor
1888Archibald LowThe Future
1889Patsy HendrenMy Book of Cricket and Cricketers
1894Ralph EdwardsShorter Dictionary of English Furniture
1896Margaret KennedyThe Constant Nymph
1897Cosmo ClarkThe Tin Trunk. Clark was a painter. His bio is linked to in first column.
1897Sir John SlessorThe Central Blue: The Autobiography of Sir John Slessor, Marshal of the RAF
1899Ada May HarrisonThe Adventures of Polly Peppermint
1899Selwyn JepsonKeep Murder Quiet
1900GEOFFREY HOUSEHOLDRogue Male
1900STEPHEN POTTERGamesmanship
1903Reginald ColemanStamford Brook: An Affectionate Portrait
1904NANCY MITFORDLove in a Cold Climate
1904PATRICK HAMILTONGaslight
1905Jerrard TickellAppointment With Venus
1906Humphrey ArthureLife and Work in Old Chiswick
1906SIR JOHN BETJEMANSummoned by Bells
1908Michael RedgraveIn My Mind’s I: An Actor’s Autobiography
1909Goronwy ReesA Chapter of Accidents
1910Giles PlayfairKeane: Paradoxical Genius
1910MS BartlettAn Introduction to Stochastic Processes
1910Rachel KempsonLife Among the Redgraves
1913Hugh Cudlipp, Baron CudlippPublish and be Damned: The Astonishing Story of the Daily Mirror
1913Jack BentleyLaura and Disorder
1913Jo Grimond, Baron GrimondThe Liberal Future
1913Ralph HoddinottThe Thracians
1914Alec DicksonChance to Serve
1914DYLAN THOMASUnder Milk Wood
1917ANTHONY BURGESSA Clockwork Orange
1917Leo AbseMargaret, Daughter of Beatrice
1917T Affleck GreevesBedford Park: The First Garden Suburb
1918Gordon Wansborough-WhiteNames with wings
1918Mora DicksonNannie: A Lifetime Of Devotion
1919DAME IRIS MURDOCHThe Sea, The Sea
1919Donald PleasenceScouse The Mouse
1919Iris MurdochThe Bell
1920Dr Ian FletcherColonnade and Nine magazines
1921Sir Jimmy YoungForever Young
1921Tommy CooperJust Like That!
1922Eamonn AndrewsFor Ever and Ever, Eamonn: The Public and Private Life of Eamonn Andrews
1922MICHAEL FLANDERSAt the Drop of a Hat
1924Dr David BudworthBedford Park Pictures from the Past
1924JAMES BERRYNews for Babylon
1924John GriggAll Quiet in the Western Suburbs
1924Professor Robin MarrisEnding Poverty
1924Ralph MilibandMarxism and Politics
1924ROBERT BOLTA Man for All Seasons
1925ALUN OWENA Hard Day’s Night
1925Diana Pullein-ThompsonI Wanted A Pony
1925Ernie WiseStill On My Way To Hollywood
1925John GuillerminDeath on the Nile
1925Pete MurrayOne Day I’ll Forget My Trousers
1925Peter BrookThe Empty Space
1926Eric MorecambeMr Lonely
1926Fritz SpiegelA Small Book of Grave Humour
1926Gillian LynneA Dancer in Wartime
1926Humphry BerkeleyThe Life and Death of Rochester Sneath
1926John FowlesThe French Lieutenant’s Woman
1927Alvin RakoffBaldwin Street
1927Fenella FieldingDo You Mind If I Smoke?
1927Julia SmithEast Enders
1928CARLA LANEThe Liver Birds
1929Beryl CrossPicking Raspberries in December
1929Brian TeslerThe Best of Times
1929Dennis FarrOxford History of English Art
1929JOHN OSBORNELook Back in Anger
1929John VaizeyThe Trade Unionist and Full Employment
1929Martin HoffmanHoffman on Pairs Play
1929Patricia LousadaAmerican Baking
1929Roderick GradidgeDream Houses, The Edwardian Ideal
1930Andy GarnettA Year in the Life of an English Meadow
1930Donald ChurchillMixed Feelings
1930HAROLD PINTERThe Caretaker
1930JG BALLARDEmpire of the Sun
1930Marthe ArmitageThe Making of Marthe Armitage Artist & Patternmaker
1931John HarrisThe Palladian Revival: Lord Burlington, His Villa and Garden at Chiswick
1931Margaret Jones BolsteriThe Early Community at Bedford Park
1931Mark GirouardLife in the English Country House
1932Professor Peter HallThe World Cities
1932Shirley SeatonChristmas truce: The Western Front Deecember 1914
1933Anthea CraigmyleVicarage in the Blitz
1933Claudia FlandersThe Songs of Michael Flanders & Donald Swann
1933Julian BreamThe Julian Bream Guitar Library
1933Sheila HancockOld Rage
1934Dame Eileen AtkinsUpstairs, Downstairs
1934Tom MangoldSplashed! A Life from Print to Panorama
1935Alan ToopOnly £3.95?! The Creative Element in Sales Promotion
1935David Hannay, Lord Hannay of ChiswickBritain’s Quest for a Role
1935Sir Alan MunroKeep the Flag Flying: A Diplomatic Memoir
1936Christine OzanneThe Tome of the Unknown Actor
1936Clive BingleyBusiness of Book Publishing
1936Denis PostleRegulating the psychological therapies
1936Don TaylorDays of Vision
1936John BirdBremner, Bird and Fortune
1936John MalcolmGothic Pursuits
1937Neil ArdleyThe Way Things Work
1937Vanessa RedgraveVanessa: An Autobiography
1938Carol SmithKensington Court
1938Geoffrey ThomasLegend of Casey Jones
1938Judie LannonHow Public service advertising works
1938Marina Vaizey100 Masterpieces Of Art
1938Sandra LousadaLondon’s Parks & Gardens
1939Bill HagertyBritish Journalism Review
1939Corin RedgraveMichael Redgrave: My Father
1939Erin PizzeyScream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear
1939Frederick VineGlobal Tectonics
1939John FortuneBremner, Bird and Fortune
1939Lynn SeymourLynn
1939Michael BillingtonState of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945
1939Professor Robert SkidelskyHow Much Is Enough?
1939Virginia MakinsThe Invisible Children
1940Commodore Ronald WarwickQE2: The Cunard Line Flagship, Queen Elizabeth 2
1940Gillian CleggChiswick Past & Present
1940Jimmie ChinnStraight and Narrow
1940Michael CockerellUnmasking Our Leaders
1940Sir Michael RoseFighting for Peace: Bosnia 1994
1941Fenja AndersonGardening in Bedford Park
1941Ginny BrownSwans At My Window
1941Larry DannOh What a Lovely Memoir
1941Sir George Young MPI’m Keeping Young: The Everyday Life of an MP
1942Desmond LynamI Should Have Been At Work
1942Frank Field MPUnequal Britain
1942Ian DurySex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
1942Sandra GrantBedford Park Pictures from the Past
1942Will WyattThe Fun Factory: A Life in the BBC
1943LYNN REDGRAVEShakespeare for My Father
1943Michael ParkerMy Life, My Hurdles
1943Professor Francis Ames-LewisConcepts of Beauty in Renaissance Art
1943Professor Robert HewisonCultural Capital: The Rise and Fall of Creative Britain
1943Robin KnightA Road Less Travelled
1943Simon JenkinsThe Companion Guide to Outer London
1944Angela RipponFabulous at Fifty and Beyond
1944John EntwistleBass Culture: The John Entwistle Bass Collection
1944Julia DrumThe Honarary Male
1944Peter MurrayThe Saga of Sydney Opera House
1944Polly DevlinVogue Book of Fashion Photography
1944Roger DaltreyRoger Daltrey: Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite
1945Celia BrayfieldPearls
1945Helen MirrenIn the Frame – My Life in Words and Pictures
1945John AbbottThe Acting Book
1946Andrew SaintThe Chronicles of London
1946David ShreeveGreat British Elms
1946Jenny SmithThe Refuge
1946Julia LangdonGordon Brown
1946Neil MorrisThe Landscape
1947Graham HoldernessD.H. Lawrence: History, Ideology and Fiction
1947Helen MartinLot: Travels Through a Limestone Landscape in Southwest France
1947Ian PeacockBankers: From Pillars to Pariahs
1947Michael DibdinRatking
1947Rick SteinEnglish Seafood Cookery
1947Roddy LlewellynBeautiful Backyards
1947Rula LenskaRula: My Colourful Life
1947Tony StollerSounds of Your Life, Classical Music Radio
1947Vicki MacKenzieThe Revolutionary Life of Freda Bedi
1948Andrew Lloyd WebberThe Phantom of The Opera
1948Gareth ArmstrongAround the World with Shakespeare’s Jew
1948James WisdomGunnersbury Park
1948Lindsey BarehamOne Pot Wonders
1948Mavis CheekPause Between Acts
1948Val BottHogarth’s House
1948Wayne SleepPrecious Little Sleep: The Autobiography of Wayne Sleep
1949Floella BenjaminComing to England
1949Glenn FrankelHigh Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic
1949Jon ElkonSoho Warrior
1949Robert RankinThe Witches of Chiswick
1949Susan PenhaligonFor the Love of Angel
1950Colin BamfordPrincples of International Law
1950Martin WainwrightCoast to Coast Walk
1950Torin DouglasComplete Guide to Advertising
1951Bryan AppleyardBedford Park
1951Hamish PringleSpending Advertising Money in the Digital Age
1951Liz VercoeThis is not a sad book
1951Maggy PigottHow to Age Joyfully
1951Phil CollinsNot Dead Yet
1952Caroline FinkelOsman’s Dream. The Story of the Ottoman Empire
1952Mel SmithAlas Smith and Jones
1952Scott GronmarkSteel Gods
1952Tony InwoodFlying Under the  Radar
1953Bob OsborneCash is King: The Art of Defaced Banknotes
1953Cahal DallatBeautiful Lofty Things
1953Carol TownendHis Captive lady
1953Joan SmithHome Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists
1953Louella MilesPerfect Marketing
1953Louise Burfitt-DonsOur man in Kuwait
1953Mark EllenRock Stars Stole My Life
1953Mark Malloch BrownThe Unfinished Global Revolution
1953Midge UreDo They Know It’s Christmas?
1953René WeisThe Yellow Cross: The Story of the Last Cathars
1953Simon PrentisSpeech! How Language Made Us Human
1953Vyvyan KinrossInformation Warriors
1954Christopher WilkModernism: Designing a New World
1955Deborah CadburyChocolate Wars 
1955Janet EllisThe Butcher’s Hook
1956Sebastian CoeRunning My Life
1957Clare CassyTwo of a Kind
1957James TickellCusco, Peru
1957Laurence ReesAuschwitz: the Nazis and the Final Solution
1957Nick HenneganHow to make a Crisis out of a Drama
1957Peter OborneHow Trump Thinks
1958Bruce DickinsonWhat Does This Button Do?
1958Cath KidstonComing Up Roses: The Story of Growing a Business
1958Chris LethbridgeThe King’s Engraver
1958Daley ThompsonGoing for Gold
1958Emma HendersonThe Valentine House
1958Gary CritcherShutter and Speed
1959Jasper ConranCountry
1959Karen LiebreichThe Family Kitchen Garden: How to Plant, Grow, and Cook Together
1959Lesley ThomsonThe Detective’s Daughter
1959Tim MarshallThe Geopolitics of Space
1960Kim WildeGardening with Children
1961Fergal KeaneThe Madness: A Memoir of War, Fear and PTSD
1961Imogen StubbsWe Happy Few
1961James ThellussonSchool’s Out
1961Julian BorgerI Seek a Kind Person
1961Vesna GoldsworthyMonsieur Ka
1962Dexter DiasThe Ten Types of Human
1962Mary HockadayKafka: Love & courage
1962Phillip SchofieldLife’s What You Make It
1962Rebecca FraynMisbehaviour
1962Rob SpracklingBorn Again Ben
1963Andy BellSovereign territory
1963Diane ChandlerOnly Human
1963Emma Bache Reading Between the Lines
1963Jeremy LevyOxford Handbook of Dialysis
1963Lucy CufflinLucy’s Food
1963Simon GompertzLimb of Satan
1964Jutta WagnerThe Family Kitchen Garden
1964Kate ColquhounA Thing in Disguise
1964Rosamund LuptonSister
1965Bill BaileyBill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to British Birds
1965Jane HaywardThe Baby Box
1965Jeremy VineWhat I Learnt: What My Listeners Say – and Why We Should Take Notice
1965Sara Cruz.The Chiswick Timeline: A History in Art and Maps
1965William CookOne Leg Too Few
1965William DalrympleThe Last Mughal
1966Carrie ReichardtCash is King: The Art of Defaced Banknotes
1966David MillerToday
1966James RodgersAssignment Moscow
1967Adrian ChilesWe Don’t Know What We’re Doing
1967Nicki ChapmanTell Me What You Want
1967Peter HaningtonA Dying Breed
1967Rageh OmaarOnly Half of Me
1967Sadie JonesThe Outcast
1968Al MurrayThe Pub Landlord’s Book of British Common Sense
1968Jason DonovanBetween the Lines
1968Kate HumbleHome Cooked
1968Sarah MainThe Independent Cook
1968Susie PearlGrateful for Every Breath
1969Sir Craig OliverUnleashing Demons: The Inside Story of Brexit
1970Kristina BillPositive Discipline
1970Richard OsmanThe Thursday Murder Club
1970Sir Matthew PinsentA Lifetime in a Race
1971Clare BaldingThe Racehorse Who Disappeared
1971Dr Sara LodgeInventing Edward Lear
1972Alan ConnorThe Joy of Quiz
1972Dara Ó BriainSecret Science
1972James CracknellTouching Distance
1972James O’Brien How To Be Right
1972Kenny LoganJust for Kicks
1973Beverley TurnerThe Pits
1973Dharshini DavidThe Almighty Dollar
1973Eve HarrisThe Marrying of Chani Kaufman
1973Gabby LoganThe First Half
1973Warwick DraperChiswick
1973Zoe AntoniadesCally & Jimmy: Twins Together
1974Harriet EvansThe Wildflowers
1974Lucy McDonaldTop Bananas: The Best Ever Family Recipes From Mumsnet
1975Alec MarshRule Britannia
1975Ant McPartlinOoh! What A Lovely Pair: Our Story (with Declan Donnelly)
1975Declan DonnellyOoh! What A Lovely Pair: Our Story (with Ant McPartlin)
1976Dr Josephine PerryPerform Under Pressure
1976Elizabeth BakerChains
1976Emma ForrestBusy Being Free
1976Jessie ChildsThe Siege of Loyalty House
1977Jerramy FineThe Regal Rules for Girls
1977Magdalena Bak-MaierThe Get Productive Grid
1978Helen SedgwickThe Growing Season
1978Henry WhiteLittle Bad Man
1979Henry HemmingM: Maxwell Knight, MI5’s Greatest Spymaster
1979Sophie Ellis-BextorSpinning Plates
1980Adam KayThis is Going to Hurt
1980Asia MackayKilling It
1980Bryony GordonMad Woman
1983Fiona BrattleThe Model’s Handbook
1986Corina StanescuRawry’s Missing Tooth
1987Molly ArbuthnottOscar The Ferry Cat
1988Jonathan SayerThe Play That Goes Wrong
1990Laura SebastianAsh Princess
1990Oliver SodenMasquerade: The Lives of Noel Coward
1992Isabella HammadThe Parisian
1994Rachel CockerellMelting Point
2000Helena CogganThe Catalyst
2013Miranda SofiaPoems and Stories for Little People
Scroll to Top