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Solving the mystery of Rudyard Kipling’s son
It is 80 years since the death of Rudyard Kipling. The author of The Jungle Book and If died without finding out what had happened to his son, who disappeared during World War One. Now researchers think they have definitively solved the mystery that transformed Kipling, writes Hannah Sander.
At the height of his career Rudyard Kipling was Britain's most popular writer. The first Briton to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, he remains the youngest ever winner.
Kipling was born in India in 1865 but sent to live near Portsmouth. "He was brought out of the colour and excitement of India, which he clearly loved, to the drabness of Southsea and foster parents who treated him badly," says Kipling biographer Andrew Lycett.
As an adult Kipling travelled widely. But it was the sour years in Southsea that inspired his most famous story - The Jungle Book. Written in 1894 while Kipling was living in snowy Vermont, the tale was a phenomenal success.
Soldiers fascinated Kipling long before WW1 - he had made his name with a poetry collection, Barrack-Room Ballads.
Kipling's son, John, was one of those keen to join the British war effort in 1914. Barred from the navy because of his poor eyesight, John was forced to use his father's connections to get a commission in the infantry, in the 2nd Battalion, Irish Guards.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35321716
It is 80 years since the death of Rudyard Kipling. The author of The Jungle Book and If died without finding out what had happened to his son, who disappeared during World War One. Now researchers think they have definitively solved the mystery that transformed Kipling, writes Hannah Sander.
At the height of his career Rudyard Kipling was Britain's most popular writer. The first Briton to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, he remains the youngest ever winner.
Kipling was born in India in 1865 but sent to live near Portsmouth. "He was brought out of the colour and excitement of India, which he clearly loved, to the drabness of Southsea and foster parents who treated him badly," says Kipling biographer Andrew Lycett.
As an adult Kipling travelled widely. But it was the sour years in Southsea that inspired his most famous story - The Jungle Book. Written in 1894 while Kipling was living in snowy Vermont, the tale was a phenomenal success.
Soldiers fascinated Kipling long before WW1 - he had made his name with a poetry collection, Barrack-Room Ballads.
Kipling's son, John, was one of those keen to join the British war effort in 1914. Barred from the navy because of his poor eyesight, John was forced to use his father's connections to get a commission in the infantry, in the 2nd Battalion, Irish Guards.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35321716
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