Editing G. K. Chesterton (section)

== Biography ==
=== Early life ===

[[File:G.K. Chesterton at the age of 17.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Chesterton at the age of 17]]

Chesterton was born in [[Campden Hill]] in [[Kensington]], London, on 29 May 1874. His father was Edward Chesterton, an estate agent, and his mother was Marie Louise, {{née}} Grosjean, of Swiss-French origin.<ref>{{cite ODNB | url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32392 | isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32392 | year=2004 | last1=Bergonzi | first1=Bernard | title=Chesterton, Gilbert Keith &#91;G. K. C.&#93; (1874–1936), writer }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Simkin |first=John |title=G. K. Chesterton |url=http://spartacus-educational.com/Jchesterton.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204194659/http://spartacus-educational.com/Jchesterton.htm |archive-date=4 February 2015 |access-date=4 February 2015 |website=Spartacus Educational}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Haushalter |first=Walter M. |title=Gilbert Keith Chesterton |url=https://archive.org/stream/universitymagazi11mcgiuoft#page/232/mode/2up |work=The University Magazine |volume=XI |page=236 |year=1912 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Chesterton was baptised at the age of one month into the [[Church of England]],{{sfn|Ker|2011|p=1}} though his family themselves were irregularly practising [[Christian Unitarianism|Unitarians]].{{sfn|Ker|2011|p=13}} According to his autobiography, as a young man he became fascinated with the [[occult]] and, along with his brother [[Cecil Chesterton|Cecil]], experimented with [[Ouija boards]].{{Sfn|Chesterton|1936|loc=[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1301201h.html#ch15 Chapter IV]}} He was educated at [[St Paul's School, London|St Paul's School]], then attended the [[Slade School of Art]] to become an illustrator. The Slade is a department of [[University College London]], where Chesterton also took classes in literature, but he did not complete a degree in either subject. He married [[Frances Blogg]] in 1901; the marriage lasted the rest of his life. Chesterton credited Frances with leading him back to [[Anglicanism]], though he later considered Anglicanism to be a "pale imitation". He entered in full communion with the [[Catholic Church]] in 1922.{{sfn|Ker|2011|p=265–266}}  The couple were unable to have children.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://chestertonaustralia.com/downloads/conferences/chesterton_conference_papers_2018.pdf |title=Chesterton and the child – A Collection of Papers presented at a conference of the Australian Chesterton Society on October 20, 2018, at Campion College Australia, Sydney |date=2018 |publisher=Australian Chesterton Society |location=Sydney, Australia |page=41 |access-date=13 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801202931/http://chestertonaustralia.com/downloads/conferences/chesterton_conference_papers_2018.pdf |archive-date=1 August 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Ker|2011|p=162–163}}

A friend from schooldays was [[Edmund Clerihew Bentley]], inventor of the [[clerihew]], a whimsical four-line biographical poem. Chesterton himself wrote clerihews and illustrated his friend's first published collection of poetry, ''Biography for Beginners'' (1905), which popularised the clerihew form. He became godfather to Bentley's son, [[Nicolas Bentley|Nicolas]], and opened his novel ''The Man Who Was Thursday'' with a poem written to Bentley.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}

===Career===
In September 1895, Chesterton began working for the London publisher George Redway, where he remained for just over a year.{{sfn|Ker|2011|p=41}} In October 1896, he moved to the publishing house [[T. Fisher Unwin]],{{sfn|Ker|2011|p=41}} where he remained until 1902. During this period he also undertook his first journalistic work, as a freelance art and literary critic. In 1902, ''[[The Daily News (UK)|The Daily News]]'' gave him a weekly opinion column, followed in 1905 by a weekly column in ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', for which he continued to write for the next thirty years.

Early on Chesterton showed a great interest in and talent for art. He had planned to become an artist, and his writing shows a vision that clothed abstract ideas in concrete and memorable images. [[Father Brown]] is perpetually correcting the incorrect vision of the bewildered folks at the scene of the crime and wandering off at the end with the criminal to exercise his priestly role of recognition, repentance and reconciliation. For example, in the story "''The Flying Stars''", Father Brown entreats the character [[Flambeau (character)|Flambeau]] to give up his life of crime: "There is still youth and honour and humour in you; don't fancy they will last in that trade. Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil. That road goes down and down. The kind man drinks and turns cruel; the frank man kills and lies about it. Many a man I've known started like you to be an honest outlaw, a merry robber of the rich, and ended stamped into slime."<ref>{{Citation |last=Chesterton |first=G. K. |title=The Innocence of Father Brown |page=118 |year=1911 |chapter=The Flying Stars |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/fatherbrown00chesuoft#page/96/mode/2up |place=London |publisher=Cassell & Company, Ltd.}}</ref>

[[File:Caricature of Chesterton, by Beerbohm.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Caricature]] by [[Max Beerbohm]]]]

Chesterton loved to debate, often engaging in friendly public disputes with such men as [[George Bernard Shaw]],<ref>{{Citation |title=Do We agree? A Debate between G. K. Chesterton and Bernard Shaw, with Hilaire Belloc in the Chair |year=1928 |place=London |publisher=C. Palmer}}</ref> [[H. G. Wells]], [[Bertrand Russell]] and [[Clarence Darrow]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Clarence Darrow debate |date=30 April 2012 |url=http://www.chesterton.org/clarence-darrow-debate/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521214716/http://www.chesterton.org/clarence-darrow-debate/ |archive-date=21 May 2014 |access-date=21 May 2014 |publisher=American Chesterton Society}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=G.&nbsp;K. Chesterton January, 1915 |url=http://darrow.law.umn.edu/photo.php?pid=1062 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521214130/http://darrow.law.umn.edu/photo.php?pid=1062 |archive-date=21 May 2014 |access-date=21 May 2014 |website=Clarence Darrow digital collection |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Law School]]}}</ref> According to his autobiography, he and Shaw played cowboys in a silent film that was never released.{{sfn|Chesterton|1936|pages=231–235}} On 7 January 1914 Chesterton (along with his brother [[Cecil Chesterton|Cecil]] and future sister-in-law [[Ada Elizabeth Chesterton|Ada]]) took part in the mock-trial of John Jasper for the murder of [[The Mystery of Edwin Drood|Edwin Drood]]. Chesterton was Judge and George Bernard Shaw played the role of foreman of the jury.<ref>Programme, ''The Trial of John Jasper for the Murder of Edwin Drood'', at King's Hall, Covent Garden, 7 January 1914. (A copy in a private collection, annotated by the original owner.)</ref>

During the First World War, Chesterton was editing ''[[New Witness]]'' writing editorials, and publishing letters from writers and thinkers, such as Thomas Maynard,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maynard |first=Thomas |date=22 March 1917 |title=Conspiracy Case |journal=New Witness |pages=578}}</ref> English poet and historian of the Catholic Church whose thinking was influenced by Chesterton's (1908) ''[[Orthodoxy (book)|Orthodoxy]]''; and [[Hilaire Belloc]]. In 1917, issues of ''New Witness''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chesterton |first1=G.K. |last2=Coleman |last3=Belloc |first3=Hilaire |last4=Prynne |date=1917 |title=Editorials and Letters |journal=New Witness |issue=March, April, May}}</ref> shed light on these writers moral concerns about the way the war was being fought on the home front, by commentary on "the 'Gordon Scandal'", the undercover agent alias "[[Alex Gordon (police agent)|Alex Gordon]]". This scandal was the refusal of the Attorney-General [[F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead|F.E. Smith]] to produce 'Gordon', the 'vanishing spy', for examination in court but on whose 'evidence' three defendants to conspiracy to murder ([[David Lloyd George]] and [[Arthur Henderson]]) were convicted and imprisoned (''R v [[Alice Wheeldon]] & Ors'', 1917).

Chesterton was a large man, standing {{convert|6|ft|4|in|m}} tall and weighing around {{convert|20|st|6|lb|kg lb}}. His girth gave rise to an anecdote during the First World War, when a lady in London asked why he was not "out at the [[Western Front (World War I)|Front]]"; he replied, "If you go round to the side, you will see that I am."<ref>{{Citation |last=Wilson |first=A. N. |title=Hilaire Belloc |page=219 |year=1984 |place=London |publisher=Hamish Hamilton}}</ref> On another occasion he remarked to his friend George Bernard Shaw, "To look at you, anyone would think a famine had struck England."  Shaw retorted, "To look at you, anyone would think you had caused it."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cornelius |first=Judson K. |title=Literary Humour |publisher=St Paul's Books |isbn=978-81-7108-374-9 |location=Mumbai |page=144}}</ref> [[P. G. Wodehouse]] once described a very loud crash as "a sound like G.&nbsp;K. Chesterton falling onto a sheet of tin".<ref>{{Citation |last=Wodehouse |first=P.G. |title=The World of Mr. Mulliner |page=172 |year=1972 |publisher=Barrie and Jenkins |author-link=P. G. Wodehouse}}</ref> Chesterton usually wore a cape and a crumpled hat, with a [[swordstick]] in hand, and a cigar hanging out of his mouth. He had a tendency to forget where he was supposed to be going and miss the train that was supposed to take him there. It is reported that on several occasions he sent a telegram to his wife Frances from an incorrect location, writing such things as "Am in [[Market Harborough]]. Where ought I to be?" to which she would reply, "Home".{{Sfn|Ward | 1944|loc=chapter XV}} Chesterton himself told this story, omitting, however, his wife's alleged reply, in his autobiography.{{sfn|Chesterton|1936|loc=Chapter 16}}

In 1931, the [[BBC]] invited Chesterton to give a series of radio talks. He accepted, tentatively at first. He was allowed (and encouraged) to improvise on the scripts. This allowed his talks to maintain an intimate character, as did the decision to allow his wife and secretary to sit with him during his broadcasts.{{sfn|Ker|2011|p=675}} The talks were very popular. A BBC official remarked, after Chesterton's death, that "in another year or so, he would have become the dominating voice from Broadcasting House."<ref name="catholicauthors">{{Cite web |title=Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936) |url=http://www.catholicauthors.com/chesterton.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511001442/http://www.catholicauthors.com/chesterton.html |archive-date=11 May 2011 |access-date=23 March 2011 |website=Catholic Authors}}</ref> Chesterton was nominated for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] in 1935.<ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=1760 Nomination archive – Gilbert K Chesterton] nobelprize.org</ref>

Chesterton was part of the [[Detection Club]], a society of British mystery authors founded by [[Anthony Berkeley Cox|Anthony Berkeley]] in 1928. He was elected as the first president and served from 1930 to 1936 until he was succeeded by [[Edmund Clerihew Bentley|E. C. Bentley]].<ref>"Detection Club, The". ''Gadetection / Detection Club, The'', gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7930445/Detection%20Club%2C%20The.</ref>

Chesterton was one of the dominating figures of the London literary scene in the early 20th century.

=== Death ===
[[File:PPXI.jpeg|thumb|Telegram sent by Cardinal [[Eugenio Pacelli]] (the future Pius XII) on behalf of [[Pope Pius XI]] to the people of England following the death of Chesterton]]

Chesterton died of [[congestive heart failure]] on 14 June 1936, aged 62, at his home in [[Beaconsfield]], Buckinghamshire. His last words were a greeting of good morning spoken to his wife Frances. The sermon at Chesterton's [[Requiem Mass]] in [[Westminster Cathedral]], London, was delivered by [[Ronald Knox]] on 27 June 1936. Knox said, "All of this generation has grown up under Chesterton's influence so completely that we do not even know when we are thinking Chesterton."<ref>{{Citation |last=Lauer |first=Quentin |title=G.&nbsp;K. Chesterton: Philosopher Without Portfolio |page=25 |year=1991 |place=New York City, NY |publisher=Fordham University Press}}</ref> He is buried in Beaconsfield in the [[Roman Catholic|Catholic]] Cemetery. Chesterton's estate was [[probate]]d at £28,389, {{inflation|UK|28389|1936|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}.<ref>{{Citation |last=Barker |first=Dudley |title=G. K. Chesterton: A Biography |page=287 |year=1973 |place=New York |publisher=Stein and Day}}</ref>

Near the end of Chesterton's life, [[Pope Pius XI]] invested him as Knight Commander with Star of the Papal [[Order of St. Gregory the Great]] (KC*SG).<ref name=catholicauthors/> The Chesterton Society has proposed that he be [[beatification|beatified]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gaspari |first=Antonio |date=14 July 2009 |title='Blessed' G. K. Chesterton?: Interview on Possible Beatification of English Author |url=http://www.zenit.org/article-26454?l=english |url-status=dead |journal=Zenit: The World Seen from Rome |location=Rome |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615225435/http://zenit.org/article-26454?l=english |archive-date=15 June 2010 |access-date=18 October 2010 }}</ref>