'BIRLING: And look at the way the auto-mobile's making headway - bigger and faster all the time. And then ships. Why, a friend of mine went over this new liner last week - the Titanic - she sails next week - forty-six thousand eight hundred tons - forty-six thousand eight hundred tons - New York in five days - and every luxury - and unsinkable, absolutely unsinkable. That's what you've go to keep your eye on, facts like that, progress like that - and not a few German officers talking nonsense and a few scaremongers here making a fuss about nothing.' - Considering your knowledge of Mr. Birling from the quotation in question eight, what does this speech tell us about his character?

Who are the most memorable characters from fiction? All readers have a favorite, a person who seems as real as the people they see every day. In some cases, a character can seem even more real. Think of Atticus Finch, Scout, Huckleberry Finn, Scrooge - it can be hard to believe these people are purely the invention of their authors.