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Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope, (February 9, 1863 - July 8, 1933) was a British novelist and playwright best remembered today for his short novel The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), a prequel The Heart of Princess Osra (a collection of short stories) (1896), and a sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898). These works were all set in the contemporaneous fictional kingdom of Ruritania. Hope was born in London. After being educated at Marlborough College, St John's School, Leatherhead and Balliol College (where he was President of the Oxford Union), he trained as a lawyer and barrister, being called to the Bar in 1887. He practised as a lawyer until 1894. Hope's first novel was A Man of Mark (1890), and one of his most well-known works during his lifetime was The Dolly Dialogues (1894), published in the Westminster Gazette. He started writing full time after Zenda's success, completing many other novels and plays, including English Nell (based on the life of actress Nell Gwyn), and Sophy of Kravonia (1906), in a similar vein as the Zenda story. Hope was knighted in recognition of his contribution to British propaganda efforts during World War I. He also published an autobiographical book, Memories and Notes, in 1927. There is a blue plaque on his house in Bedford Square, London.
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