On this day...

Hungarian journalist Joseph Pulitzer, died in 1911 at the age of 64. The son of the 'foremost merchant' in Mako, Pulitzer enjoyed a prosperous childhood, receiving private tuition and learning French and German. Yet after the death of his father, the family went bankrupt, and Pulitzer attempted to enlist in several European armies before emigrating to the U.S. Following his participation in the Civil War, Pulitzer worked a number of odd jobs, including being a mule hustler and a waiter, before his first journalistic piece was published in the 'Westliche Post'.

He became an American citizen in 1867, and two years later was chosen and elected as a Republican member of the Missouri State Assembly, despite being three years under the legal age. However, a decade later, disgusted by GOP corruption, he switched to the Democrat party. By now a highly successful editor, Pulitzer purchased a variety of newspapers, including the 'Post', 'The St. Louis Dispatch', and 'New York World' - increasing the circulation of the latter by 40 times. Pulitzer's legacy has been cemented in establishing the world's first school of journalism, and the famous Pulitzer Prize.

On this day...

American writer E.B. White died in 1985, at the age of 86. The youngest child of a piano manufacturer, White served in the army before going to Cornell University and working as editor of the student newspaper. After graduating, White went on to write for the national press, becoming a sports journalist for 'The New York Times', before turning his hand to children's fiction on behalf of his neice.

White did not produce many famous works, yet the two he did, are widely considered classics. 'Stuart Little' was published in 1945, and 'Charlotte's Web' was written 7 years later, the two jointly receiving the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 1970 for lasting contributions to children's literature. White was given further recognition for his works, winning an honorary Pulitzer Prize in 1978 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.

Pulitzer Prizes announced...

The recipient of the Pulitzer Prizes has been announced. Broadway musical 'Next to Normal', charting a woman's struggle with mental illness, and praised for 'expanding the scope of subject matter for musicals', has been awarded the prize for drama. Paul Harding's debut novel 'Tinker' was surprise winner of the best fiction category. The Pulitzers, handed out since the 1917 for journalistic excellence, were also awarded in classical music, biography, history and poetry. The prizes themselves, will be presented at a lunch next month.