The famous letter Oscar Wilde sent from Reading Gaol, describing the events that led to his arrest and imprisonment. Wilde, one of the most famous men of his day as a result of his literary and theatrical successes, had been publicly accused of sodomy in 1895 by the Marquess of Queensbury, who was indignant over Wildes friendship with his son, Lord Alfred Douglas. Encouraged by Douglas, Wilde sued Queensbury for libel and lost, and was subsequently tried and convicted on vice charges.