Anthony Hope

Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope, was a British novelist and playwright. He was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books: The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898). These works, "minor classics" of English literature, are set in the contemporaneous fictional country of Ruritania and spawned the genre known as Ruritanian romance, books set in fictional European locales similar to the novels. Zenda has inspired many adaptations, most notably the 1937 Hollywood movie of the same name and the 1952 version.

9 February 1863

Born on the same birth day (9 February): Ali-Shir Nava'i • Barry Mann • Franz Xaver Gabelsberger • Garner Ted Armstrong • Hara Takashi • Jaire Alexander • Johannes Meursius • Mikel Arruabarrena • Zhang Ziyi

Born in the same month (February 1863): Charles McLean Andrews • George Herbert Mead • Hugo Becker • Joaquín Sorolla • John F. Fitzgerald