JG Ballard once said he was "the most important writer to emerge since World War 2,", while Norman Mailer claimed that he was "the only American writer who may be conceivably possessed by genius."

They weren't talking about themselves, but about William Seward Burroughs (pictured), the beat author born today in St Louis, Missouri in 1914, grandson of a famous American inventor. He was a Harvard dropout, heroin addict, homosexual and gun enthusiast.

Burroughs was many things to many people, but is probably remembered most as one of the founders of the beat movement, along with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg; the author of 1959's Naked Lunch; and the developer of the cut-out technique that he used to construct many of his novels.

He wrote 18 novels and various novellas, collections of short stories and essays, mostly drawn from his own experiences living in cities across the world from Mexico City to London, Paris, Berlin and Tangiers.

His work has inspired popular culture for generations, influencing everyone from David Bowie to Patti Smith, Laurie Anderson and Tom Waits and there's a photo of him included in the collage on the cover of The Beatles' album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. His last filmed performance was an appearance in the music video for Last Night on Earth by U2.

Although he was openly homosexual for most of his life, Burroughs did have one child with his second wife, Joan Vollmer, whom he famously killed by accident while re-enacting the story of William Tell. He died on August 2, 1997 in Lawrence, Kansas after suffering a heart attack.