Memorising the Bible and drinking 50 cups of coffee a day: From Darwin to Dickens, how history's biggest thinkers spent their days

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Gustave Flaubert stuck to this ritual while writing his masterpiece. After a day of quiet contemplation, he would buckle down to work from late evening until the early hours of the morning

This was Beethoven's routine for at least five years of his life. He would fit in a full working day before 3pm and would then take the rest of the day to relax

For the year of 1781 at least, Mozart was a sporadic worker, buckling down for a couple of hours early in the morning and late at night. He spent nearly twice as long each day socialising

Thomas Mann would write furiously for three hours every morning before taking it, relatively, easily for the rest of the time

Freud, a renowned workaholic, would be writing or seeing patients for nearly 13 of his 18 waking hours

Making his money through teaching, that activity took up his most of Kant's morning and the philosopher always found time for a four hour lunch

By 7am, Maya Angelou was already in a hotel and ready to work. She would write solidly for seven hours before making her way home to prepare dinner

The day started at 4am for John Milton and work was done by midday. The afternoon was for walks and receiving visitors. There was special time put aside in the morning however, for memorising the Bible

Rising at 1am, Balzac would work, almost uninterrupted until 4pm, fuelled by 50 cups of black coffee

Five hours of work for Dickens was followed by a three hour walk, which often gave him the inspiration for the following day

A 12 hour working day for Auden was rewarded by an evening of relaxing with strong vodka martinis

Darwin was not a man to stick at one thing for too long, chopping and changing between several activities throughout the day

Tchaikovsky only spent four hours a day composing he still completed 11 operas and eight symphonies in his lifetime

Five hours of deep contemplation for Le Corbusier would be followed by three and a half of his employees putting them into action

Asking himself every morning what he wanted to do that day, two four hour stints of hard graft meant Benjamin Franklin would always have something to be proud of when he reviewed at bedtime