George Grossmith 1847-1912

George Grossmith is famous as a singer, actor, and writer who wrote Diary of a Nobody. He was the son of a journalist, who also did some entertaining. He orginally wanted to be a barrister but after his school days, he took up his father's profession for a time. He also began to do some entertaining, writing much of his own material, including songs. He got to know Gilbert and Sullivan and started to sing in the Savoy Operas, creating many of their most famous characterHe played Ko Ko in the Mikado and the Major General in the Pirates of Penzance. But he is probably now most famous for the Diary of a Nobody. It was a comic diary, by a lower middle class man, Charles Pooter who has just moved to a nice but small house in Holloway. Pooter works in the City as a senior clerk but he regards himself as a gentleman and frequently makes a fool of himself by insisting on his genteel status. But he is a good sincere man, devoted to his wife Carrie, and loving his exasperating and mildly wayward son Lupin. Lupin has started out working as a clerk also but has just lost his job through laziness. Charles manages to get him a job in his own company, but Lupin is fired. Pooter writes about the hobbies that were popular at the time, such as amateur dramatics, cycling, and Spiritualism. Eventually Lupin gets engaged, gets a better job and Pooter manages to get a contract for his firm that leads his boss to offer to buy the freehold of his house and give it to him. Pooter is overjoyed. George's wife died before him, and he died in 1912.