Gulliver's Travels tercentenary marks 300 years since publication

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 27 Oct, 06:08 · Archive

Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels is being celebrated across Britain and Ireland 300 years after its publication on 28 October 1726.

Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, first published on 28 October 1726 as Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, is being celebrated across Britain and Ireland on its 300th anniversary. Presented as the true account of Lemuel Gulliver, a surgeon and sea captain, the novel carries readers into societies of tiny people, giants, impractical intellectuals and intelligent horses.

The tercentenary is marked by BBC Radio 4's production of Three Hundred Years of Gulliver's Travels, which examines the political satire beneath its reputation as a children's adventure. Armagh Robinson Library, which owns Swift's annotated copy of the 1726 edition, has created an exhibition launched by Private Eye editor Ian Hislop and Swift scholar Professor Moyra Haslett, whose conversation was recorded for Radio 4.

Whitehaven has revived questions about whether Swift's childhood there inspired elements of the book. Swift was born in Dublin in 1667. When he was about a year old, his nurse reportedly learned that a relative in Whitehaven was ill and took him across the Irish Sea. Some accounts describe this as an abduction; others say Swift's mother allowed him to remain because he was considered too delicate to make the return crossing. Swift is believed to have lived in Whitehaven for almost three years, probably between about 1668 and 1671, where he was taught to read passages from the Bible by age three.

How it is being reported

• Did Cumbria inspire Lilliput? Swift mystery revisited 300 years onThree hundred years after Gulliver’s Travels was published, Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece is being celebrated through broadcasts, exhibitions and performancesNews & Star · 27 Oct, 05:00
• Did Cumbria inspire Lilliput? Swift mystery revisited 300 years onThree hundred years after Gulliver’s Travels was published, Jonathan Swift’s masterpiece is being celebrated through broadcasts, exhibitions and performancesWhitehaven News · 27 Oct, 05:00

In this story: Jonathan Swift · Gulliver's Travels · Whitehaven · BBC Radio 4 · Armagh Robinson Library · Ian Hislop · Moyra Haslett · Dublin

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem