This weekend, on the second of May, is the anniversary of the birth of the writer Jerome Klapka Jerome - better known as Jerome K Jerome, the author of Three Men in a Boat. He was born in 1859 into a middle class family in Staffordshire, England - his father had interests in the local coal and iron industries and was a prominent non-conformist preacher. They lived in comparative comfort until 1861 when, following the collapse of the family business, the Jeromes ended up in the East End of London, where they lived in relative poverty.

The young Jerome wished to go into politics or be a man of letters, but the death of both his parents in 1872, when he was 13 years old, forced him to quit his studies and find work to support himself, working variously as a clerk, a hack journalist, a schoolmaster and an actor.

Though a relaxed, urbane man, Jerome was a relentless explorer of new ideas and experiences. He travelled widely throughout Europe, was a pioneer of skiing in the Alps and visited Russia and America several times. He was a prolific writer whose work has been translated into many foreign languages, but as Jerome himself said: 'It is as the author of Three Men in a Boat that the public persists in remembering me.' The Silksoundbooks audio book version read by the wonderful actor Nickolas Grace has brought this hilarious account of a boating holiday on the Thames to an even greater audience.
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