Mark Twain

Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri, grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, along the Mississippi River. Prior to his writing career, he worked as a printer's apprentice, a Mississippi riverboat pilot, a silver prospector, and a journalist. His pen name, "Mark Twain," originates from the riverboat leadsman's call signifying "two fathoms" or safe water. He is referred to as the father of American literature. His works include *The Adventures of Tom Sawyer* (1876), *Adventures of Huckleberry Finn* (1885), *The Innocents Abroad*, *Life on the Mississippi*, and *A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court*. He was also a celebrated stage lecturer who toured globally. In his later years, he was characterized by thick unruly white hair, heavy brows, a full white walrus moustache, and a white three-piece linen suit with a black bow tie. He had a wiry build, was about 5'8" tall, and was usually depicted holding a cigar. He possessed a mischievous twinkle, a slow drawling Missouri accent, and was known for his deliberately unhurried delivery, deadpan timing, and mastery of the one-liner and tall tale. He was considered the greatest wit of his age, warm but razor-sharp, and deeply satirical about politics, religion, and human nature. He loved cats, billiards, and cigars. He was born two weeks after Halley's Comet appeared in 1835 and died one day after its 1910 return. He held two US patents: an adjustable clothing strap and a self-pasting scrapbook. A bad investment in a typesetting machine bankrupted him in his 50s, and he repaid every creditor in full by lecturing around the world. He died on April 21, 1910, in Redding, Connecticut.

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