Rossini's parents expected the future composer to get right to work -- they enrolled him in music lessons at the age of four. The young Rossini started writing compositions as a teenager; by the time he was in his 20s, he had already written more than seven operas. In 1812, Italy's most important ope

Bombast, Dramatic, Epic, Funny, Sardonic

In 1925, while he was teaching at a boy's school in Wales, the young Evelyn Waugh attempted suicide by swimming out to sea. After getting fairly far from shore, he was forced to turn back: a shoal of stinging jellyfish had beset him. Macabre, comic, and ironic, this incident epitomizes Waugh's entire

Agitated, Angry, Clever, Realist fiction, Religious, Sardonic

Julian Barnes treats history with a whip of irony. An indignant yet playful voice streams through his novels, a voice that asks just how dependent we are on our past and why. Is history a crutch that actually handicaps us? Is our belief that the past offers the ultimate purchase on truth a massive de

Contemplative, Elegant, Ironic, Playful, Postmodern fiction, Sardonic

Born in Dilston, Northumberland, in 1963, is a British artist, who was one of the five members of the co-operative running the City Racing gallery in London (1988-98). Noble was featured as Skip Hunter alongside Ella Verparajugs (aka Georgina Starr) in the 2004 classic short film Heart to Heart. T

Absurd, Complex, Fantastic, Representational, Sardonic