Samuel Johnson was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, on the 18th of September 1709. He went to Oxford University for a short while, but his time there was cut short when his money ran out. It was then that his career as a writer began.
Johnson moved to London in 1737 and worked as a journalist before he was commissioned to write his greatest work, Dictionary of the English Language. This took him 8 years to complete and was a great success. Johnson’s financial troubles ended when he was granted a pension by King George III in appreciation of the dictionary. Johnson died on the 13th of December 1784 when he was 75 years old.
Samuel Johnson made major contributions in the fields of poetry, essay writing, morality, literary criticism and lexicography. Test your knowledge of this influential character by playing our quiz.