T. H. White 1906—1964

Terence Hanbury White was an English author best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958. One of his most memorable stories is the first of that series, “The Sword in the Stone”, published as a stand-alone book in 1938. Fantasy writer Michael Moorcock enjoyed White’s Arthurian novels and was especially influenced by the underpinnings of realism in his work, and eventually engaged in a “wonderful correspondence” with White, later recalling that “White [gave] me some very good advice on how to write”. J. K. Rowling has said that T. H. White’s writing strongly influenced the Harry Potter books; several critics have compared Rowling’s character Albus Dumbledore to White’s absent-minded Merlyn, and Rowling herself has described White’s Wart as “Harry’s spiritual ancestor.” Author Neil Gaiman was asked about the similarities between Harry Potter and Gaiman’s character Timothy Hunter, and he stated that he did not think Rowling had based her character on Hunter. “I said to [the reporter] that I thought we were both just stealing from T. H. White: very straightforward.” (source: Wikipedia)