Poet, essayist, playwright, historian, and diplomat. Born in the house called The Spread Eagle in Bread Street, Cheapside. Left London to study in Cambridge but found all the dull debates in Latin tedious and often returned to London. Then lived for a time with his parents who had moved to Hammersmith, and then moved with them to Berkshire. Married to his first wife he lived in the area now the Barbican. Became completely blind in 1652. Success came when he published "Paradise Lost" in 1667. Having been a regicide republican and a religious dissenter he had to keep his head down after the Restoration. Died in Artillery Walk off Bunhill Fields, a poor area.
1644 wrote 'Of Education', a treatise on educational reform.
Buried at St Giles Cripplegate, which holds, inside the church, a bust and a statue.
