The Diary of a Nobody follows fifteen months in the life of Charles Pooter, a middle-aged London clerk of modest status with large social ambitions. Written by George Grossmith and his brother Weedon, who also drew the illustrations, it was serialised in Punch in 1888 and 1889 and published as a book in 1892. The humour comes from Pooter's self-importance, his unshakeable belief in his own jokes and his attempts at social grace. Early critics called it vulgar, but later writers praised it highly, and Lord Rosebery and Evelyn Waugh were among its admirers. The word Pooterish has since come to mean taking oneself too seriously.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.