1.
Voyages extraordinaires
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The Voyages extraordinaires is a sequence of fifty-four novels by the French writer Jules Verne, originally published between 1863 and 1905. Vernes meticulous attention to detail and scientific trivia, coupled with his sense of wonder and exploration and this great wealth of information distinguished his works as encyclopedic novels. The first of Vernes novels to carry the title Voyages Extraordinaires was The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, the works in this series included both fiction and non-fiction, some with overt science fiction elements or elements of scientific romance. As you know, I have dealt with the moon, but a great deal remains to be done, in the system developed by Hetzel for the Voyages Extraordinaires, each of Vernes novels was published successively in several different formats. This resulted in as many as four editions of each text, Éditions pré-originales, Serialization in a periodical. The serialized installments were illustrated by artists on Hetzels staff, such as Édouard Riou, Léon Benett, Éditions originales, complete unillustrated texts published in book form at 18mo size. Cartonnages dorés et colorés, Complete editions of the text, published in grand in-8º book form with a decorated cover. These deluxe editions, designed for Christmas and New Years markets, Jules Verne remains to this day the most translated science fiction author in the world as well as one of the most continually reprinted and widely read French authors. Though often scientifically outdated, his Voyages still retain their sense of wonder that appealed to readers of his time and their spirit has also continued to influence fiction to this day, including James Gurneys Dinotopia series and softening Steampunks dystopianism with utopian wonder and curiosity. Most of the novels in the Voyages series were first serialized in periodicals, almost all of the original book editions were published by Pierre-Jules Hetzel in octodecimo format, often in several volumes. What follows are the novels published in Vernes lifetime, with the most common English-language title for each novel. The dates given are those of the first publication in book form
2.
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne published in 1870. The novel was serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Jules Hetzels periodical. The deluxe illustrated edition, published by Hetzel in November 1871, included 111 illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou. The description of Nemos ship, called the Nautilus, was considered ahead of its time, as it accurately describes features on submarines, which at the time were very primitive vessels. The title refers to the distance traveled while under the sea and not to a depth, as 20,000 leagues is over six times the diameter, the greatest depth mentioned in the book is four leagues. The book uses metric leagues, which are four kilometres each, during the year 1866, ships of several nations spot a mysterious sea monster, which some suggest to be a giant narwhal. The United States government assembles an expedition in New York City to find, professor Pierre Aronnax, a French marine biologist and narrator of the story, who happens to be in New York at the time, receives a last-minute invitation to join the expedition which he accepts. Canadian whaler and master harpoonist Ned Land and Aronnaxs faithful servant Conseil are also brought aboard, the expedition departs Brooklyn aboard the United States Navy frigate Abraham Lincoln and travels south around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean. The ship finds the monster after a search and then attacks the beast. The three protagonists are then hurled into the water and grasp hold of the hide of the creature and they are quickly captured and brought inside the vessel, where they meet its enigmatic creator and commander, Captain Nemo. The rest of the story follows the adventures of the protagonists aboard the creature—the submarine, Captain Nemos motivation is implied to be both a scientific thirst for knowledge and a desire for revenge on civilization. Aronnax and Conseil are enthralled by the adventures, but Ned Land can only think of escape. They visit many places under the oceans, some real-life places, the travelers witness the real corals of the Red Sea, the wrecks of the battle of Vigo Bay, the Antarctic ice shelves, the Transatlantic telegraph cable and the fictional submerged land of Atlantis. When the Nautilus returns to the Atlantic Ocean, a pack of poulpes attacks the vessel, throughout the story Captain Nemo is suggested to have exiled himself from the world after an encounter with the forces that occupied his country that had devastating effects on his family. Not long after the incident of the poulpes, Nemo suddenly changes his behavior toward Aronnax, Aronnax no longer feels the same and begins to sympathize with Ned Land. Near the end of the book, the Nautilus is attacked by a warship of some nation that made Nemo suffer, filled with hatred and revenge, Nemo ignores Aronnaxs pleas for mercy. Nemo bows before the pictures of his wife and children and is plunged into depression after this encounter. For several days after this, the situation changes
3.
Journey Through the Impossible
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Journey Through the Impossible is an 1882 fantasy play written by Jules Verne, with the collaboration of Adolphe dEnnery. The play opened in Paris at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin on 25 November 1882, about twenty years before the play begins, the Arctic explorer Captain John Hatteras became the first man to reach the North Pole, but went mad in the attempt. At the start of the play, Georges is living with Madame de Traventhal and her granddaughter Eva, Madame de Traventhal, in the hope of curing him of his obsession, sends for a physician newly arrived in the country, a certain Doctor Ox. Ox enters and is welcomed into the castle, although he does not seem to get well with Master Volsius. Doctor Ox, catching him alone, reveals Georgess true parentage, Eva, realizing what has happened, takes the potion and drinks some as well, so as not to desert Georges. A family friend, the dancing master Tartelet, is seduced by the opportunity to travel, Ox sets off with all three travelers, while Volsius makes secret plans to come along and protect Georges from Oxs influence. Along the way, another Dane, Axel Valdemar, also mixed up into the journey. Ox and Volsius are in constant conflict throughout, with the former urging Georges toward hubris, the project backfires, and the planet explodes. Through the magical intervention of Ox and Volsius, the travelers are brought back to Castle Andernak, together, they bring Georges back to life and health. He renounces his obsessions and promises to live ever after with Eva. Oxs Experiment, Mr. Tartelet is derived from a character in The School for Robinsons, at the same time, the plot of the play sets it distinctly apart from the rest of Vernes work. Both father-figures are highly symbolic, Ox is a sinister tempter representing knowledge and science, given these themes, the play is likely Vernes most purely science-fictional work. Structurally, the play evokes the design of Jacques Offenbachs opera The Tales of Hoffmann. In Journey Through the Impossible, however, the choice is between positive ideals—love, goodness, happiness—and the unbounded scientific ambitions of the sinister Doctor Ox, the use of scientific themes mark the plays position at a major turning-point in Vernes ideology. The play, by exploring science in both positive and negative lights, shows Verne in transition between the two points of view. The arrangement gave Verne prominence as a novelist and an amount of financial stability. Verne and dEnnery went on to two other Verne novels, The Children of Captain Grant and Michael Strogoff, as similarly spectacular plays. Clawbonny from The Adventures of Captain Hatteras, and other characters would go around the world together in a flying machine
4.
Jules Verne
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Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. Verne is generally considered a literary author in France and most of Europe. Verne has been the second most-translated author in the world since 1979 and he has sometimes been called the Father of Science Fiction, a title that has also been given to H. G. Wells and Hugo Gernsback. His parents were Pierre Verne, an originally from Provins, and Sophie Allote de la Fuÿe. In 1829, the Verne family moved some hundred meters away to No.2 Quai Jean-Bart, three sisters, Anna, Mathilde, and Marie, would follow. In 1834, at the age of six, Verne was sent to boarding school at 5 Place du Bouffay in Nantes, the teacher, Mme Sambin, was the widow of a naval captain who had disappeared some 30 years before. Mme Sambin often told the students that her husband was a shipwrecked castaway, the theme of the Robinsonade would stay with Verne throughout his life and appear in many of his novels, including The Mysterious Island, Second Fatherland, and The School for Robinsons. In 1836, Verne went on to École Saint‑Stanislas, a Catholic school suiting the pious religious tastes of his father, Verne quickly distinguished himself in mémoire, geography, Greek, Latin, and singing. In the same year,1836, Pierre Verne bought a house at 29 Rue des Réformés in the village of Chantenay on the Loire River. In his brief memoir Souvenirs d’enfance et de jeunesse, Verne recalled a deep fascination with the river and with the many merchant vessels navigating it. He also took vacations at Brains, in the house of his uncle Prudent Allotte, a retired shipowner, who had gone around the world and served as mayor of Brains from 1828 to 1837. Verne took joy in playing interminable rounds of the Game of the Goose with his uncle, and both the game and his uncles name would be memorialized in two late novels. It is now known that the legend is a tale invented by Vernes first biographer, his niece Marguerite Allotte de la Füye. In 1840, the Vernes moved again to an apartment at No.6 Rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau. In the same year Verne entered another school, the Petit Séminaire de Saint-Donatien. His unfinished novel Un prêtre en 1839, written in his teens, from 1844 to 1846, Verne and his brother were enrolled in the Lycée Royal in Nantes. After finishing classes in rhetoric and philosophy, he took the baccalauréat at Rennes, however, his father took it for granted that Verne, being the firstborn son of the family, would not attempt to make money in literature but would instead inherit the family law practice. In 1847, Vernes father sent him to Paris, primarily to begin his studies in law school, and secondarily to distance him temporarily from Nantes
5.
The Mysterious Island
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The Mysterious Island is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1874. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat, the novel is a crossover sequel to Vernes famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways, though its themes are vastly different from those books. Verne developed a theme in his later novel, Godfrey Morgan. The plot focuses on the adventures of five Americans on an island in the South Pacific. During the American Civil War, five prisoners of war decide to escape, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia. The company is completed by Cyrus dog Top and they name it Lincoln Island in honor of their president, Abraham Lincoln. They also manage to figure out their geographical location, during their stay on the island, the group endures bad weather, and domesticates an orangutan, Jupiter, abbreviated to Jup. The group finds a message in a bottle directing them to rescue a castaway on nearby Tabor Island, on the return voyage to Lincoln Island, they lose their way in a tempest but are guided back to their course by a mysterious fire beacon. Ayrtons former companions arrive by chance on Lincoln Island, and try to make it into their lair, after some fighting with the protagonists, the pirate ship is mysteriously destroyed by an explosion. Six of the pirates survive and kidnap Ayrton, when the colonists go to look for him, the pirates shoot Harbert, seriously injuring him. Harbert survives, but suffers from his injury, narrowly cheating death, the colonists at first assume Ayrton to have been killed, but later they find evidence that he was not instantly killed, leaving his fate uncertain. After Harbert recovers, they attempt to rescue Ayrton and destroy the pirates and they discover Ayrton at the sheepfold, and the pirates dead, without any visible wounds. The secret of the island is revealed when it is discovered to be Captain Nemos hideout, having escaped the Maelstrom at the end of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the Nautilus sailed the oceans of the world until all its crew except Nemo had died. Now an old man with a beard, Nemo returned the Nautilus to its secret port within Lincoln Island. On his death bed Captain Nemo reveals his identity as the lost Indian Prince Dakkar, son of a Raja of the then independent territory of Bundelkund. Nemo also tells his story to Cyrus Smith and his friends. Before he dies, he gives them a box of diamonds, afterwards, he dies, crying God and my country. The Nautilus is scuttled and serves as Captain Nemos tomb, afterward, the islands central volcano erupts, destroying the island
6.
Maharaja
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Mahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a great ruler, great king or high king. It has also been the title of emperors, including Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh empire, the female equivalent, Maharani, denotes either the wife of a Maharaja, and also in states where that was customary, a woman ruling in her own right. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajmata queen mother, Maharaj Kumar generally denotes a son of a Maharaja, but more specific titulatures are often used at each court, including Yuvaraj for the heir. The form Maharaj indicates a separation of noble and religious offices, the word Maharaja originates in Sanskrit and is a compound karmadhāraya term from mahānt- great and rājan ruler, king). It has the Latin cognates magnum great and rex king, the Sanskrit title Maharaja was originally used only for rulers who ruled a considerably large region with minor tributary rulers under them. Since mediaeval times, the title was used even by monarchs of smaller states claiming to be the descendants of ancient Maharajas, the word Maharaja may be understood simply to mean ruler or king, in spite of its literal translation as great king. The word, however, can also mean emperor in contemporary Indian usage, two Rajas who became Maharajas in the twentieth century were the Maharaja of Cochin and the legendary Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala. Variations of this include the following, each combining Maha- great with an alternative form of Raja king, so all meaning Great King, Maharana, Maharawal, Maharawat, Maharao. Maharajah has taken on new spellings due to change and migration. It has even been shortened to Mahraj and Maraj but the most common is Maharajah, despite its literal meaning, unlike many other titles meaning Great King, neither Maharaja nor Rajadhiraja, nor even its equivalent amongst. Maharaja, Maharajadhiraja, never reached the standing required for imperial rank, dharma-maharaja was the devout title of the rulers of the Ganga dynasty. In the Mughal Empire it was common to award to various princes a series of lofty titles as a matter of protocolary rank. The british would, as partamaount power, do the same, Maharajadhiraja, Great Prince over Princes, a title of honour, one degree higher than Sawai Maharaja Bahadur. Sawai Maharaja Bahadur, a title of honour, one higher than Sawai Maharaja. Sawai Maharaja, a title of one degree higher than Maharaja Bahadur. Maharaja Bahadur, a title of honour, one higher than Maharaja. Maharaja itself could also be grahted as a personal, non-hereditary style, like Raja and various other titles, Maharaja was repeatedly awarded to notables without a princely state, such as zamindars. g. The Diwan Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad, held such a Maharaja-title, Maharaj Kumar means son of a Maharaja or Heir-Apparent, the female equivalent is Maharaj Kumari, daughter of a Maharaja
7.
Submarine
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A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability, the term most commonly refers to a large, crewed vessel. It is also used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine. The noun submarine evolved as a form of submarine boat, by naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as boats rather than as ships. Although experimental submarines had been built before, submarine design took off during the 19th century, Submarines were first widely used during World War I, and now figure in many navies large and small. Civilian uses for submarines include marine science, salvage, exploration and facility inspection, Submarines can also be modified to perform more specialized functions such as search-and-rescue missions or undersea cable repair. Submarines are also used in tourism, and for undersea archaeology, most large submarines consist of a cylindrical body with hemispherical ends and a vertical structure, usually located amidships, which houses communications and sensing devices as well as periscopes. In modern submarines, this structure is the sail in American usage, a conning tower was a feature of earlier designs, a separate pressure hull above the main body of the boat that allowed the use of shorter periscopes. There is a propeller at the rear, and various hydrodynamic control fins, smaller, deep-diving and specialty submarines may deviate significantly from this traditional layout. Submarines use diving planes and also change the amount of water, Submarines have one of the widest ranges of types and capabilities of any vessel. Submarines can work at greater depths than are survivable or practical for human divers, modern deep-diving submarines derive from the bathyscaphe, which in turn evolved from the diving bell. In 1578, the English mathematician William Bourne recorded in his book Inventions or Devises one of the first plans for an underwater navigation vehicle and its unclear whether he ever carried out his idea. The first submersible of whose construction there exists reliable information was designed and built in 1620 by Cornelis Drebbel and it was propelled by means of oars. By the mid-18th century, over a dozen patents for submarines/submersible boats had been granted in England, in 1747, Nathaniel Symons patented and built the first known working example of the use of a ballast tank for submersion. His design used leather bags that could fill with water to submerge the craft, a mechanism was used to twist the water out of the bags and cause the boat to resurface. In 1749, the Gentlemens Magazine reported that a design had initially been proposed by Giovanni Borelli in 1680. By this point of development, further improvement in design stagnated for over a century, until new industrial technologies for propulsion. The first military submarine was the Turtle, a hand-powered acorn-shaped device designed by the American David Bushnell to accommodate a single person and it was the first verified submarine capable of independent underwater operation and movement, and the first to use screws for propulsion
8.
Nautilus (Verne)
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Nautilus is the fictional submarine captained by Nemo featured in Jules Vernes novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. Verne named the Nautilus after Robert Fultons real-life submarine Nautilus, Nautilus is described by Verne as a masterpiece containing masterpieces. It is designed and commanded by Captain Nemo, electricity provided by sodium/mercury batteries is the crafts primary power source for propulsion and other services. The Nautilus is double-hulled, and is separated into water-tight compartments. Its top speed is 50 knots and its displacement is 1,356.48 French freight tons emerged. In Captain Nemos own words, The Nautilus uses floodable tanks in order to adjust buoyancy, the pumps that evacuate these tanks of water are so powerful that they produce large jets of water when the vessel emerges rapidly from the surface of the water. This leads many early observers of the Nautilus to believe that the vessel is some species of whale, to submerge deeply in a short time, Nautilus uses a technique called hydroplaning, in which the vessel dives down at a steep angle. The Nautilus supports a crew that gathers and farms food from the sea, the Nautilus includes a galley for preparing these foods, which includes a machine that makes drinking water from seawater through distillation. The Nautilus is not able to refresh its air supply, so Captain Nemo designed to do it by surfacing and exchanging stale air for fresh, the Nautilus is capable of extended voyages without refuelling or otherwise restocking supplies. Its maximum dive time is five days. Much of the ship is decorated to standards of luxury that are unequalled in a vessel of the time. These include a library with boxed collections of valuable oceanic specimens that are unknown to science at the time, expensive paintings, the Nautilus also features a lavish dining room and even an organ that Captain Nemo uses to entertain himself in the evening. These amenities however, are available to Nemo, Professor Aronnax. Its parts are built to order in France, the United Kingdom, Prussia, Sweden, the United States, then they are assembled by Nemos men on a desert island. The Nautilus most likely returned to this island and later helped castaways in the novel The Mysterious Island, after Nemo dies on board, the volcanic island erupts, entombing the Captain and the Nautilus for eternity. Beside her original appearance in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island, in the 1954 film and The Return of Captain Nemo, it is suggested that the Nautilus is powered by nuclear energy. This version also appears in the video game Epic Mickey, under the name of Notilus and this version features a design evoking a squid attacking a whale, the squid section, which has functional tentacles, can be detached as shown in the cross-section from The Black Dossier. In Warren Elliss Planetary series, Elijah Snow hides himself aboard the Nautilus, in the book Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen
9.
Imperialism
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Imperialism is an action that involves a country extending its power by the acquisition of territories. It may also include the exploitation of these territories, an action that is linked to colonialism, colonialism is generally regarded as an expression of imperialism. However, both are examples of imperialism, the word imperialism originated from the Latin word imperium, which means supreme power. It first became common in Great Britain, during the 1870s and was used with a negative connotation, the term was and is mainly applied to Western political and economic dominance, especially in Asia and Africa, in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its precise meaning continues to be debated by scholars, some writers, such as Edward Said, use the term more broadly to describe any system of domination and subordination organised with an imperial center and a periphery. This definition encompasses both nominal empires and neocolonialism, the word empire comes from the Latin word imperium, for which the closest modern English equivalent would perhaps be sovereignty, or simply rule. The greatest distinction of an empire is through the amount of land that a nation has conquered and expanded, Political power grew from conquering land, however cultural and economic aspects flourished through sea and trade routes. A distinction about empires is that although political empires were built mostly by expansion overland, economic, some of the main aspects of trade that went overseas consisted of animals and plant products. European empires in Asia and Africa have come to be seen as the forms of imperialism. European expansion caused the world to be divided by how developed, the two main regions are the core and the periphery. The core consists of areas of income and profit, the periphery is on the opposing side of the spectrum consisting of areas of low income. These critical theories of Geo-politics have led to increased discussion of the meaning and this idea from Lenin stresses how important new political world order has become in our modern era. Geopolitics now focuses on states becoming major players in the market, some states today are viewed as empires due to their political. The term imperialism is often conflated with colonialism, however scholars have argued that each have their own distinct definition. Imperialism and colonialism have been used in order to describe ones superiority, domination, colonialism in modern usage also tends to imply a degree of geographic separation between the colony and the imperial power. Thus it can be said that imperialism includes some form of colonialism, colonialism is seen to be the architect deciding how to start dominating areas and then imperialism can be seen as creating the idea behind conquest cooperating with colonialism. Colonialism is when the imperial nation begins a conquest over an area, colonialisms core meaning is the exploitation of the valuable assets and supplies of the nation that was conquered and the conquering nation then gaining the benefits from the spoils of the war. The meaning of imperialism is to create an empire, by conquering the states lands
10.
British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
11.
Alan Moore
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Alan Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books including Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. Frequently described as the best graphic novel writer in history, he has been recognised by his peers. Moore started writing for British underground and alternative fanzines in the late 1970s before achieving success publishing comic strips in such magazines as 2000 AD, during that decade, Moore helped to bring about greater social respectability for comics in the United States and United Kingdom. He prefers the term comic to graphic novel, despite his own personal objections, his books have provided the basis for a number of Hollywood films, including From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, V for Vendetta, and Watchmen. Moore has also referenced in popular culture, and has been recognised as an influence on a variety of literary and television figures including Neil Gaiman, Joss Whedon. Moore was born on 18 November 1953, at St Edmonds Hospital in Northampton to a family who he believed had lived in the town for several generations. He grew up in a part of Northampton known as The Boroughs, an area with a lack of facilities and high levels of illiteracy. I didnt know there was anything else. He lived in his house with his parents, brewery worker Ernest Moore and he read omnivorously from the age of five, getting books out of the local library, and subsequently attended Spring Lane Primary School. In the late 1960s Moore began publishing his own poetry and essays in fanzines, eventually setting up his own fanzine, through Embryo, Moore became involved in a group known as the Northampton Arts Lab. The Arts Lab subsequently made significant contributions to the magazine and he began dealing the hallucinogenic LSD at school, being expelled for doing so in 1970 – he later described himself as one of the worlds most inept LSD dealers. Whilst continuing to live in his parents home for a few years, he moved through various jobs, including cleaning toilets. In late 1973, he met and began a relationship with Northampton-born Phyllis Dixon, soon marrying, they moved into a new council estate in the towns eastern district while he worked in an office for a sub-contractor of the local gas board. Moore felt that he was not being fulfilled by this job, abandoning his office job, he decided to instead take up both writing and illustrating his own comics. He had already produced a couple of strips for several alternative fanzines and magazines, mouse for the local paper Anon, and St. Pancras Panda, a parody of Paddington Bear, for the Oxford-based Back Street Bugle. Alongside this, he and Phyllis, with their newborn daughter Leah, not long after this, in 1979 he also began publishing a new comic strip known as Maxwell the Magic Cat in the Northants Post, under the pseudonym of Jill de Ray. Earning a further £10 a week from this, he decided to sign off of social security, to learn more about how to write a successful comic-book script, he asked advice from his friend, comic-book writer Steve Moore, whom he had known since he was fourteen. Interested in writing for 2000AD, one of Britains most prominent comic magazines, Alan Moore then submitted a script for their long running, while the first few were rejected, Grant advised Moore on improvements, and eventually accepted the first of many
