Literature · Media · Scholarship · 1874–1936
Born: 29 May 1874 · Died: 14 June 1936 · Age at death: 62
G. K. Chesterton died aged 62. He was born on 29 May 1874 and died on 14 June 1936.
English writer and wit who created the priest-detective Father Brown and wrote essays and The Man Who Was Thursday
Did you know?He once famously sent his wife a telegram asking where he was supposed to be after getting lost on a trip.
G. K. Chesterton was one of the liveliest writers of the 20th century. He was a huge man with a huge output of essays, novels, poems and biographies. He loved paradox and used it to make serious points. His Father Brown stories feature a gentle priest who solves crimes through understanding sin. He debated George Bernard Shaw in public. He converted to Catholicism in 1922. His defence of common sense still wins readers.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English Christian apologist writer. Chesterton's wit, paradoxical style, and defence of tradition made him a dominant figure in early 20th-century literature.
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Profile
English writer, 1874–1936
G. K. Chesterton was born in Kensington on 29 May 1874.
He studied art at the Slade School.
The Man Who Was Thursday appeared in 1908.
The first Father Brown book came out in 1911.
Career highlights
Did you know?He wrote around 80 books and about 4,000 newspaper essays.
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