First and Last

Hilaire Belloc, in full Joseph-Hilaire-Pierre-René Belloc, (born July 27, 1870, La Celle-Saint-Cloud, Fr.—died July 16, 1953, Guildford, Surrey, Eng.), French-born poet, historian, and essayist who was among the most versatile English writers of the first quarter of the 20th century. He is most remembered for his light verse, particularly for children, and for the lucidity and easy grace of his essays, which could be delightfully about nothing or decisively about some of the key controversi...