O. Henry O. Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. His stories are known for their surprise endings. William Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. He changed the spelling of his middle name to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–88), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–65). William's parents had married on April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother died after birthing her third child, and he and his
William Watson (writer) William Watson (writer) William Hugh Charles Watson was a Scottish author, playwright and newspaper editor. He was initially Literary and then Features editor of the Scotsman newspaper. Born in Edinburgh on 30 April 1931, he attended Edinburgh Academy and then entered Edinburgh and Oxford universities but did not complete either course. He commenced writing novels in 1969 with "Better than One" and then two historical novels entitled "Beltran in Exile" (1979) about the Crusaders and "The Knight on the Bridge" (1982) about the Cathars. These two latter books are generally regarded as his best works. Between 1970 and 1972 he