Why should I not publish my diary? I have often seen reminiscences of people I have never even heard of, and I fail to see—because I do not happen to be a “Somebody”—why my diary should not be interesting.’
The spoof diary of a lower-middle-class London clerk, The Diary of a Nobody was first serialized in the legendary magazine of humour and satire, Punch, in 1888-89. It was published as a book in 1892, and has never been out of print since. This comic masterpiece—which details the doings of the ridiculously pompous and accident-prone Charles Pooter, his wife Carrie and their troublesome son Lupin—has been a source of delight to generations of readers and inspired many celebrated writers, from J.B. Priestley and Evelyn Waugh to Helen Fielding and Sue Townsend.
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’George Grossmith’ was an English writer, composer, actor, singer and comedian of the Victorian era. As a performer, he was most famous for creating several memorable characters in Gilbert and Sullivan’s original plays and musicals. He acted in the first productions of ’H.M.S. Pinafore’ (1878), ’The Pirates of Penzance’ (1880) and ’The Mikado’ (1885-87). His writing consisted mainly of comic sketches, with the best-known being ’The Diary of a Nobody’ (1892), written with his brother, Weedon. Grossmith died in 1912.
’Weedon Grossmith’ was an English writer, painter, actor and playwright of the Victorian era. Although he trained as a painter, he was more successful on stage. He collaborated with his brother George, one of the most successful light comedy actors of the time, in writing ’The Diary of a Nobody’ and contributed all the pen-and-ink illustrations for it. He died in 1919 at the age of 65.