November 30: On This Day in World History … briefly
He spent his last three years impoverished and in exile.
1900: Oscar Wilde dies in poverty
Noted and notorious Irish wit and playwright Oscar Wilde died in a Paris rooming house aged 46 – in poverty and all but forgotten by his once large circle of admirers.
He had lived in Paris since his release from imprisonment for sexual offences in 1897, broken by the scandal and the severity of his sentence.
Born in Dublin in 1854, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and Magdalen College in Oxford, where he first attracted attention by his flamboyance and aestheticism.
It is his four plays of the 1890s which will ensure his long-term reputation: ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’, ‘A Woman of No Importance’, ‘An Ideal Husband’ and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’.
He was buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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