Elias was born on 23 May 1617 in Breadmarket Street only a few metres away from the birthplace of Samuel Johnson. His mother, Anne, was the daughter of a wealthy Coventry draper, Anthony Bowyer. His father, Simon Ashmole...

Boswell is represented with his sword by his side, notebook under his arm, and walking stick held behind his back.The face of Boswell is taken from a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and his figure and costume from Langton’s sketch of...

Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, Johnson attended Pembroke College, Oxford for just over a year, before his lack of funds forced him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write for The...

James Boswell was a Scottish biographer and diarist, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson, which the modern Johnsonian critic Harold Bloom...