Author of classics such as The Jungle Book and Kim, Rudyard Kipling is one of Britain's national treasures when it comes to his work (his political opinions are quite another matter). He won the Nobel Prize for Literature back in 1907 when he was 42 years old - he was considered one of the most popular writers in the country at the time and for many years after.
Kipling had an interesting upbringing. He is British but was born in India and spent his first five years there. After that, he was sent back to the UK and lived in a boarding house where he ended up being abused. Kipling referred to his foster home as the 'house of desolation' due to the torture he suffered at the hands of his foster mother, who would beat him and emotionally abuse him frequently.