Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilder was born in Dublin in 1854 to Sir William Wilde, a surgeon and famous, or infamous, womaniser, and Lady Jane Wilde who was a political intellectual and socialite who write poetry under the pen-name Speranza. Wilde's relationship with his mother was close but difficult and seemed to veer from resentment to adoration.

After finishing school, Wilde went on to be a brilliant student at both Trinity College in Dublin and at Oxford University in Eng

land. He was a much talked about character, famous for his flamboyant dress sense as much as for his writing. He was a relentless self-publicist and as famously said: 'there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about' and he certainly used to press to create the cult of his own personality.

He married Constance in 1884 but theirs was not a marriage of love or fidelity though they did have two children together. Instead he embarked upon a string of affairs, the most famous of which led to his imprisonment for 'gross indecency'. It was this period of incarceration that was the turning point of his life. On his release, he was shunned by those who had once been his friends, his publishers refused to touch his work and he become and outcast from the society he so adored.

He died alone in a dingy Paris hotel room on November 30, 1900. Although the official cause of death was an ear infection, there is no doubt that his spirit had been broken.

Although he remains an enigmatic and controversial figure, it is for his plays that he will be remembered: The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance... plays which though comic were shrewd observations of society and mores.

Some examples of Oscar Wilde's wit:

Education is an admirable thing, but it is as well to remember that nothing that is worth knowing can be taug.

The truth is rarely pure and never simple.

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

I can resist everything except temptation.

Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.

The is no sin except stupidity.

I have nothing to declare except my genious.