The Diary of a Nobody

Mr Pooter is a man of modest ambition, content with his clerkly lot. So why is he always in trouble with disagreeable tradesmen, young clerks and wayward friends? And what is he to do about his son Lupin's distinctly unsuitable choice of bride? However hard he tries, life piles its little mishaps on his head - but he's not about to give up.

George Grossmith, son of a law reporter and entertainer, was born in 1847. For some years he worked as a journalist, reporting Police Court proceedings for The Times, and in 1870 began his career as a singer and entertainer. His special connection with Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, many of the chief parts of which were his 'creations' began at the Opera Comique. His A Society Clown: Reminiscences was published in 1888, followed by a further volume of reminiscences, Piano and I: Further Remembrances. He died in 1912. Weedon Grossmith, brother of George, was born in 1854. He was educated at the Slade and the Royal Academy with a view to following a career as a painter, and exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery and the Royal Academy.Joining a theatre company in 1885, he toured the provinces and America. His novel, A Woman with a History, was published in 1896, and the best-known of his many plays, The Night of the Party, was published in 1901. He died in 1919.