French poet Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was BOTD in 1854. Born in Charleville to a prosperous military family, his parents separated when he was a child and he and his siblings were raised by his mother. A highly successful student, he published his first poem aged 15. In 1870, he ran away repeatedly to Paris, intending to enlist in the Army, each time returned to his mother. The following year, he began a correspondence with the poet Paul Verlaine, enclosing extracts of his own verse. Intrigued by his precocity, Verlaine sent the 17 year-old Rimbaud a one-way ticket to Paris with the message “Come, dear great soul. We await you; we desire you”. They quickly began an affair, culminating in Verlaine leaving his wife and young child to live with Rimbaud. They became the scandal of Parisian society, infamous for their wild behaviour, Olympian drug use and frequent fights in public. After living in poverty in London and Brussels, Verlaine shot Rimbaud in a drunken rage, wounding him in the wrist. Verlaine was sentenced to two years in prison, while Rimbaud returned to Charleville, where he completed his prose poem Une saison en enfer (A Season in Hell). Published in 1874, it received negative reviews, likely owing to his relationship with Verlaine, and he was snubbed by Paris literary society. Infuriated, Rimbaud moved to London with his new lover Germain Nouveau, where he revised his prose poem cycle Illuminations, giving the manuscript to Verlaine who arranged for its publication in 1886. At 20, he announced his intention to abandon writing, travelling extensively through Europe, and enlisting as a soldier in the Dutch Colonial Army. He deserted four months later, returning incognito to Paris. He eventually settled in Yemen, working as a coffee trader and arms dealer. In 1891, he returned to Paris for medical treatment, resulting in his leg being amputated. He attempted to return to Africa, but died en route in Marseille, aged 37. His brief but extraordinary literary output became hugely influential on 20th century literature, and he was adopted as a hero by 1960s counter-cultural figures including Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith and Jim Morrison. He was played by Leonardo diCaprio in the 1995 film Total Eclipse, based on the biographical play by Christopher Hampton.