Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, the son of John Lockwood Kipling, a museum director and author and illustrator. This was at the height of the "British Raj", so he was brought up by Indian nurses ("ayahs"), who taught him something of the beliefs and tongues of India. He was sent "home" to England at the age of six to live with a foster mother, who treated him very cruelly. He then spent five formative years at a minor public school, the United Services College at Westward Ho! which inspired "Stalky & Co. ". He returned to India as a journalist in 1882.

When he arrived in London in October 1889, at the age of 23, he was already a literary celebrity.

By 1890 he had published, in India, a major volume of verse, "Departmental Ditties", and over 70 Indian tales in English, including "Plain Tales from the Hills" and the six volumes of the "Indian Railway Library".

In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier, the daughter of an American lawyer, and set up house with her in Brattleboro, Vermont, where they lived for four years. While in Vermont he wrote the two "Jungle Books" and "Captains Courageous".

In 1901 he wrote "Kim" and in 1902 "The Just So Stories" that explained things like "How the Camel Got Its Hump".

From 1902 they made their home in Sussex, England.

Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. He was both the youngest (42) and the first English-speaking writer to win the prize.

Kipling's views were on the right and he admired Benito Mussolini during the 1920s. However in 1935 he called Mussolini a deranged and dangerous egomaniac.

His writings were banned in the Soviet Union in 1939 following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

In 1995 his poem "If ..". was voted England's favorite poem.