The Resume

(July 11, 1558-September 3, 1592)
Born in Norwich, England, United Kingdom
Playwright, poet and pamphleteer
Wrote the plays 'Friar Bacon and Friar Burgundy,' 'The History of Orlando Furioso,' 'A Looking Glass for London and England,' and 'The Scottish History of James the Fourth' (all titles circa 1590)
Wrote 'Greene's Groatsworth of Witte' (published posthumously)

Why he might be annoying:

It is difficult to confirm information about him.
He claimed to have married a gentleman's daughter, abandoned her when her dowry ran out, and fathered a son with a prostitute.
He was traditionally said to have died from 'a surfeit of pickle herring and Rhenish wine.'
Although popular in his day, he is remembered mainly for dissing Shakespeare as 'an upstart crow.' (And in the process, providing the earliest reference to Shakespeare as a writer.)

Why he might not be annoying:

He was a prolific author, and may have been the first person in England to support himself by writing.
His romance 'Pandosto' inspired Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale.'
The abandoned wife and knocked-up whore may have been fictions he created as part of a 'penitent prodigal' persona.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Alcohol Contributed to My Death
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 51]
• I Attended Cambridge
• I Died in My 30s (Ranked: 34)
• I Fathered Children Out of Wedlock
• Look at Me, My Picture Is Art
• Playwrights
• Poets
• Profiles 35251-35500 (Ranked: 35252)
• Renaissance Men (and Women)
• Renaissance Poets

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 72.73% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 41 Votes: 58.54% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 124 Votes: 49.19% Annoying