Poet, novelist, and short-story writer Rudyard Kipling, the first English writer to receive the Nobel Prize in literature, was the most popular literary figure of his time. He was born December 30, 1865, in Bombay, India, to John Lockwood Kipling and Alice MacDonald Kipling. John, who was a teacher of architecture and an artist, inspired the character of the Keeper of the Wonder House in Kipling's novel Kim (1901).

Kipling spent his early childhood in India and was cared for by a Hindu nanny; as a young child he spoke Hindi. However, as was the custom of the time, at the age of five Kipling was sent to boarding school in Britain, where he was subjected to severe strictness and bullying. His poor eyesight kept him from advancing into a military career, so at the age of sixteen, Kipling returned to his parents in Lahore, India, and began his...