The Young Visiters was written by Daisy Ashford when she was nine years old. For years the notebook containing The Young Visiters lay forgotten in a drawer, until one day in her mid-thirties the author unearthed the story from her youth. It went on to be published, more or less as written, in 1919

JRR Tolkien - author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings - was an academic who created a hugely detailed mythical world in which to set his stories. Tolkien was born towards the end of the nineteenth century - a Victorian by birth - yet his novels are still hugely popular today.

Queen Victoria was Britain’s longest reigning monarch, ruling from 1837-1901. She gave her name to the people of her era – the Victorians.

England is home to a wide variety of cheeses, some of which have been made for hundreds of years, many of which take their names from the village, town, city or county where they originated.

Barbara Erskine writes substantial novels which weave together the present and the past, providing insight into different periods of history. She is a mistress at creating word pictures which vividly evoke both time and place.

Stevie Smith, born in 1902 in Hull, was a writer who appealed to a younger generation. She wrote novels and poetry and illustrated some of her writings. She was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1969.

William Blake – poet and artist, political and visionary – was born in London in 1757. Some would call Blake's Jerusalem - sung at the start of the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games - England’s alternate national anthem.

A Cornish pasty is a meal in itself - meat and vegetables encased in a half moon case of golden pastry.

Dr Who - an iconic English TV series - has survived generations of viewers and regenerations of Doctors. The first three doctors helped lay the bedrock of stories to come...

England has always had plentiful crops of apples, from shiny green Bramleys to small, sweet Cox’s. Abundant apple harvests have given the English satisfying puddings for centuries.