Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen was born in Denmark on 2 April 1805 and spent decades as a prolific writer across genres: plays, travelogues, novels, poems. But it was the fairy tales - 156 stories across nine volumes - that stuck. They've been translated into more than 125 languages and lodged themselves in Western collective consciousness, readable by children but carrying lessons that follow you out. "The Little Mermaid", "The Snow Queen", "The Little Match Girl", "Thumbelina", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" - the titles keep coming, and they've fed ballets, films, plays, endless adaptations. He died on 4 August 1875, leaving a body of work where everything else faded and the tales became the culture.