Gilbert Keith Chesterton lived in London from 1874 to 1936 and was a man of letters and a journalist. A great and creative thinker who loved to debate his opponents in word and writing. With humor, self-mockery and paradoxes, he gained great popularity, but also numerous enemies. His best-known works are Orthodoxy (1908), The Eternal Man (1925) and the short detective stories Father Brown.

Chesterton has a striking, infectious writing style, with plenty of humor, cleverness and common sense. Not for nothing is he often called "the Apostle of Common Sense" and "the Prince of Paradox. He wrote a casual, witty prose that was loaded with stunning formulations, such as: 'Thieves respect private property. They just want to make private property their own private property so they can respect it even more.'

In the process, his writing remains surprisingly topical, which is why Chesterton is still read today. Many great writers cite Chesterton as an example, including: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Jorge Luis Borges. Religious leaders such as Dorothy Day, Pope John Paul I and even Mahatma Gandhi also quote him as an inspiration. After his conversion, however, he would become an ardent defender of the faith and the (Roman Catholic) Church, especially in the face of liberal, secular and Protestant prejudices.