There are also a number of English set texts: To Kill a Mockingbird is one, Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is another.

BBC: Pride and Prejudice tops teachers' favourite 100 books

Actor James Franco, star of Sam Raimi's Wizard of Oz prequel, is to make his Broadway debut in the John Steinbeck classic Of Mice and Men.

BBC: James Franco to make Broadway debut

"It looks like we have found a key genetic gatekeeper of puberty in mice and men, " said Dr William Crowley Jr, chief of the reproductive endocrine unit and one of those involved in the study.

BBC: NEWS | Health | Gene 'decides timing of puberty'