(1805-1875) Danish and author and poet. Well-known for his children's stories. He was born in the slums of Odense, his father a cobbler, his mother a washerwoman. He received very little education, and had an unhappy childhood. He went to work when his father died when he was 11, first as an apprentice to a weaver and tailor and then in a tobacco factory. At the age of 14, he moved to Copenhagen to try a career as a singer, dancer and actor. At the age of 17, he was "discovered" by the Director the Royal Theatre, and his artistic career was launched. Anderson combined folk myths learnt from his superstitious mother or told to him by his father, with his own rich imagination. His objective was to bring happiness to children.