On this day in 1947, Stephen King was born

Possibly the most well-known and successful novelist in the horror and thriller genre, Stephen King has made a name for himself with books such as Carrie, Pet Cemetery, The Shining and IT – and many of his works have been adapted for film and TV.

The New York Times bestselling author was born on 21 September in Portland, Maine. After graduating from university, King worked as a teacher while he tried to establish his writing career.

The success of Carrie prompted King to quit his job and devote himself to writing full time. He even wrote a few books under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman, in fear that readers would not accept more than one book a year from the same author.

Many of his works have been made into movies and television programmes, one of them being The Shining; released in 1980, starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. This renowned horror movie has without a doubt stood the test of time, and in 2013 he decided to surprise fans with a sequel called Doctor Sleep – another New York Times bestseller.

A lesser-known-fact about King is that outside of writing, he is quite the music fan and even performs in a band called Rock Bottom Remainders. This band is made up of his fellow literary stars Dave Barry, Barbara Kingsolver, and Amy Tan, and has performed numerous times over the years to raise money for charity.

KIng and his wife spend their time between Florida and Maine, along with their three children. His daughter Naomi is a minister of religion, making her the only non-writer in the family – his wife (Tabitha) and two sons (Joseph and Owen) are also novelists.

A couple of other people celebrating their birthdays today are Abby Lee Miller, Jason Derulo, and Bill Murray.