Bill Naughton

"There was the odd occasion when I might get a sentence to match up almost perfectly with what I felt, and this simple act gave me a glow of satisfaction, even a touch of self-esteem. At times I'd be so overcome by the reconciliation I might achieve between imagination and writing, that I would feel a need to sneak out to the front door, sit on the doorstep, breathe in the sweet, cool air, gaze up at the night sky, and try to think of eternity, the soul, beauty, and images remote from lorries, spades and coal. It was as though something was urging me on in what appeared even to me to be a vain and hopeless quest."

It's the birthday of British playwright Bill Naughton, born in Ballyhaunis, Ireland (1910). He grew up in Bolton in Lancashire, England, where his father worked as a miner. Bill worked as a coalbagger, weaver, and a truck driver, but he started writing occasionally for himself.