January 1, 1879. E.M. Forster was born in London, England, the only child of Alice Clara (Lily) Whichelo and Edward Morgan Llewellyn Forster, an architect. His name had been registered as Henri, but at his christening "the old verger asked my father what the baby was to be called, and he, distrait, gave his own name, Edward Morgan. This the verger wrote down on a piece of paper. My maternal grandmother held me at the font. When the clergyman asked her what I was to be called she became afraid of the sound of her voice in a sacred edifice, and indicated the piece of paper. My mother, in a distant pew, heard the announcement with horror. I had been registered one way and christened another. What on earth was to happen. It turned out after agitated research that the christening had it, so Edward I am."¹

After his...