Thomas Hardy's much-loved tale to be a major new BBC 4-part adaptation starring Bond girl Gemma Arterton

Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June 1840. The son of a stonemason, he trained as an architect near Dorchester later moving to St Juliot's church in Cornwall, where he met his wife, Emma. By his death in 1928, Hardy had written numerous novels, short stories and poems including Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) The Woodlanders (1887) and his final novel Jude the Obscure (1895) - all of which have been adapted to TV and film. Hardy was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Society of Literature in 1912 and presented with the Order of Merit by King George V.