Arthur Quiller-Couch Arthur Quiller-Couch Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a Cornish writer who published using the pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication "The Oxford Book Of English Verse 1250–1900" (later extended to 1918) and for his literary criticism. He influenced many who never met him, including American writer Helene Hanff, author of "84, Charing Cross Road" and its sequel, "Q's Legacy". His "Oxford Book of English Verse" was a favourite of John Mortimer fictional character Horace Rumpole. Arthur Quiller-Couch was born in the town of Bodmin, Cornwall, by
Elleston Trevor in Bromley, Kent, he lived in Spain and France before moving in 1973 to the United States, where he lived in Phoenix, Arizona. He was married twice: in 1947 to Jonquil Burgess (died 1986) by whom he had one son, Jean Pierre Trevor, and in 1987 to Chaille Anne Groom. He was proficient in karate. The Quiller series focuses on a solitary, highly capable spy (named after Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch) who works (generally alone) for a government bureau that "doesn't exist" and narrates his own adventures. Quiller (not his real name) occupies a literary middle ground between James Bond and