Curated playlist
English writers with disabilities
- Lord ByronWestminster Abbey refused Lord Byron's body for questionable morality. It finally gave him a memorial in 1969.
- Lewis CarrollOn a rowing trip in July 1862, Lewis Carroll invented a story for three sisters.
- John MiltonJohn Milton sold Paradise Lost for five pounds. The blind poet handed it to a publisher in April 1667.
- Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. Clarke never patented his satellite idea. He called a patent "a licence to be sued."
- Michael FlandersOxford refused Michael Flanders re-entry after polio left him in a wheelchair. He became a stage comedian instead.
- Stephen HawkingDoctors gave Stephen Hawking two years to live at age 21, but he died at 76.
- Josiah WedgwoodJosiah Wedgwood lost his right leg in 1768, then opened his Etruria pottery works the next year.
- Rowan AtkinsonRowan Atkinson played one synthesizer note, over and over, at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The moment came during a performance of "Chariots of Fire". Atkinson appeared as Mr. Bean, and the single note soon…
- Charlie HunnamCharlie Hunnam was 17 years old and shopping for shoes when his career began. It was Christmas Eve, and he was in a branch of JD Sports, messing about with his brother. A production manager from Byker Grove, a teen drama made in Newcastle,…
- Harriet MartineauAfter her family's textile business failed in 1829, Harriet Martineau wrote to earn a living.