Ernest Hemingway

Born in Cicero, Illinois in 1899, Ernest Hemingway's early life was dominated by a neurotic and deeply religious mother who dressed him in clothes similar to his sister, and even called him 'Ernestine', as she had been hoping for twins. However Ernest preferred his father's pursuits of hunting and fishing and when World War I broke out, he was eager to see action. Failing the medical due to poor eyesight, he instead joined the Red Cross and was wounded in 1918 while driving an ambulance; fittingly, he staunched the blood flow with cigarette butts. Hemingway spent much of his life out of the US, and was a correspondent in several wars including the Spanish Civil War and World War II, but notwithstanding his absence, his works are considered American classics and are typified by an economy of style and stoic male protagonists. In the 1930s he bought a home in Cuba, where he lived for more than 20 years, before returning to America following Castro's revolution. His failing health gave way to depression and paranoia for which he was receiving elctro-convulsive therapy, and ultimately he took his own life on July 2, 1961. "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." - Ernest 'Papa' Hemingway