five stories, "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Selfish Giant", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket". They have inspired a long list of adaptations such as a Bee Gees song, an Orson Welles radio show, and a Christopher Plummer movie. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet, famous for ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ to name a couple. He was believed to be a homosexual and met a lot of resistance in his life on that account. He died in Paris at the age of 46.