By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
1. The ominous date of his birth amused him.
Born on Good Friday, 13 April, 1906, Samuel Barclay Beckett enjoyed the irony of being born on a date ripe with religious connotations – not least because, as well as being Good Friday, it was a date ripe with different, superstitious associations: Friday the 13th.