Auteur: John Muirhead

Hilaire Belloc, the full name Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc, (1870 – 1953), was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. He was a brother of Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes, a prolific English writer, and a grandson of the famous French painter Jean-Hilaire Belloc. Belloc combined literary career with political activity and was the President of the Oxford Union and later MP for Salford South from 1906 to 1910. As a writer, Belloc left a solid trace: he authored over 150 books, with the subjects ranging from warfare to poetry to the many current topics of his day. He was also famous for debates with such great writers as H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, and G. K. Chesterton. Together they were called Big Four of Edwardian Letters.