Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Thomas Hardy was apprenticed as an architect when he was a young man. (source)
Hardy wanted to be buried next to his first wife, Emma. But when he died his wishes were ignored: he was buried in "Poet's Corner" in Westminster Cathedral (a great honor), but his heart was buried next to Emma. (source)
The fictional town of Casterbridge is based partly on Hardy's hometown of Dorchester. (source)