the life and times of muriel spark · the life and times of muriel spark 1940 muriel’s marriage...
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The Life and Times of Muriel Spark
1940Muriel’s marriage to Sydney
ends
Winston Churchill becomes the Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom
France fails to the Germans
1918Muriel Sarah Camberg is
born in Edinburgh, Scotland The vote is awarded to
women over 30 years oldThe Spanish flu pandemic kills
over 30 million peopleArmistice Day, signalling the
end of World War One
1922Mussolini marches his Fascist Party to power
in Italy
1923Muriel starts her
education at James Gillespie’s School for Girls
1927The first ‘talkie’ feature
film, The Jazz Singer, is released
1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943
1929The first ever Academy
awards ceremonyThe Wall Street Crash
1932American Vogue places its first colour photograph on
the cover
1937Muriel marries Sydney Oswald
Spark
Muriel moves to Rhodesia, Africa (Now Zimbabwe)
Pablo Picasso completes Guernica
1938Muriel gives birth to her only son, Samuel Robin
Spark
Germany annexes the Sudetenland region of
Czechoslovakia
1939Introduction of Nylon
revolutionises the sale of stockings
World War Two is declared
1935Muriel finishes her schooling
Adolf Hitler introduces the Nuremberg Laws, removing
citizenship from Jews
1941The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour brings
the US into the Second World War
2000Publication of Aiding
and Abetting
2003Saddam Hussein is
ousted as leader of Iraq
2001Publication of Complete
Short Stories
Terrorists attack the World Trade Centre in
New York
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
2004Publication of The
Finishing School
Publication of All The Poems
2005Pope John Paul II dies
Hurricane Katrina destroys New Orleans
2006Muriel Spark dies in
Tuscany, Italy
1967Publication of Collected Poems
and Collected Stories
Muriel receives an OBE and moves to Rome
Israel captures the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War
The first colour television broadcasts in the UK
1971Publication of Not To
Disturb
1966 An adaptation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie premieres in London’s West End, starring
Vanessa Redgrave
The Moors Murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are sent to
prison for their crimes
1944Muriel returns to Britain, moving
to London
Muriel joins British Intelligence to work in their war propaganda
division
1946The bikini is first modelled in Paris
1945Germany surrenders in
Europe
The US drops the first atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan
Japan surrenders in the South-East
1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971
1961Publication of The Prime of
Miss Jean Brodie
Publication of Voices at Play, a collection of plays and short
stories
Construction of the Berlin Wall begins
1960 Publication of The
Ballad of Peckham Rye
Publication of The Bachelors
Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the case of DH
Lawrence’s novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover
1962Muriel moves to New York
Marilyn Monroe dies
The Cuban Missile Crisis
1963Publication of The Girls of Slender
Means
Publication of Doctors of Philosophy, a play
The Profumo Affair scandalises Britain
JFK assassinated
1957Publication of Muriel’s first
novel, The Comforters
Publication of Letters of John Henry Newman (edited by Muriel with Derek
Stanford)
1964 The Beatles appear on the Ed
Sullivan show
Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben
Island
The death penalty is abolished in Britain
1947Muriel becomes the editor of the Poetry
Review
1948The US’s House of Un-
American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist sympathisers in
Hollywood
1950Publication of Tribute to Wordsworth
(edited by Muriel with Derek Stanford)
South Africa passes the Group Areas Act, formally segregating the
races in Apartheid
Britain formally recognises Israel
1951Publication of Muriel’s study on
Mary Shelley, Child of Light
Muriel wins the Observer newspaper award for her first
short story, The Seraph and the Sambesi
1952Publication of Muriel’s first
poetry collection, The Fanfarlo and Other Verse
Publication of Selected Poems of Emily Bronte (edited by
Muriel)
Queen Elizabeth II is crowned at St James’s Palace
1953Publication of John Masefield:
A Biography
Publication of Emily Bronte: Her Life and Work (written by Muriel with Derek
Stanford)
Publication of My Best, Mary, a collection of letters from Mary Shelley (edited by
Muriel with Derek Stanford
Josef Stalin dies
1954Muriel converts to
Catholicism
Publication of The Bronte Letter (edited by Muriel)
Food rationing in the UK ends
1956The Suez Canal Crisis
1958Publication of Robinson
Publication of her first collection of short stories, The Go-Away Bird
Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament
1959Publication of Memento
Mori
1965Publication of The Mandelbaum Gate, which won the James Tait
Black Memorial Prize
Assassination of Malcolm X in New York City
1968Publication of The Public Image
Publication of The Very Fine Clock, a childrens’ book
illustrated by Edward Gorey
My Lai Massacre in the Vietnam War
1969 Premiere of the film adaptation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, starring Maggie
Smith
Neil Armstrong is the first man to walk on the moon
The first ever Booker Prize for fiction goes to P H Newby’s Something to Answer For, Muriel Spark’s The Public
Image is shortlisted
1970Publication of The
Driver’s Seat
The Miss World beauty pageant in London’s Royal Albert Hall is
disrupted by Women’s Liberation protesters
1994The Channel Tunnel opens
1998Muriel receives the Golden
PEN Award
The Good Friday Agreement is signed between the British and Irish governments and
Northern Irish political parties
1966Publication of Symposium
Nelson Mandela is released
1972The Munich Massacre takes place during the
Olympics
1974Publication of The Abbess of
Crewe
Release of Indentkit, a film adaptation of The Driver’s Seat,
starring Elizabeth Taylor
Richard Nixon resigns as the US President after the Watergate
Scandal
1973Publication of The
Hothouse by the East River
1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
1993Muriel is awarded a
Damehood
1984Publication of The Only
Problem
The miners’ strike begins
1975Muriel moves to Tuscany
1976The Publication of The
Takeover
The first commercial Concorde flight takes off
1977Release of Nasty Habits, a film adaptation of The Abbess of Crewe, starring
Glenda Jackson
Elvis Presley dies
1979Publication of Territorial Rights
Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of
Great Britain
1980The first 24 News channel
CNN is launched
John Lennon is shot dead in New York City
1981Publication of Loitering With Intent, which is shortlisted for the Booker
Prize
Assassination attempts on US President, Ronald Reagan and Pope
John Paul II
Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales
Muhammed Ali retires from boxing
1982Publication of Bang-Bang You’re
Dead, a collection of short stories
Publication of Going Up to Sotheby’s, a collection
of poems
The Falklands War
1986Chernobyl Disaster
1988Publication of A Far Cry From
Kensington
The Lockerbie Disaster
1991Dissolution of the Soviet
Union
1992Publication of Muriel’s
autobiography, Curriculum Vitae
Muriel receives the US Ingersoll Foundation TS Eliot Award
1995Muriel receives the David
Cohen Prize
Princess Diana dies in a car crash in Paris
1996Publication of Reality and
Dreams
Dolly the Sheep, the first mammal to be successfully cloned, is born in Scotland
1970The Scottish Parliament is
officially opened
1989Ayatollah Khomeini issues a Fatwa on author Salman Rushdie on the
publication on his novel The Satanic Verses
The Communist regimes in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria
and Romania crumble
The Berlin Wall falls
1936Edward VIII abdicates the
throne