Jerome K. Jerome

Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927), an English novelist, playwright, and actor, is best known as a humorist. In his writing, he was able to explore sensitive issues regarding human emotions through humor and light-hearted narrations.

Born in Walsall, Staffordshire, Jerome was brought up in the East End of London in relative poverty. He left school at fourteen and worked variously as a clerk, a hack journalist, an actor, and a schoolmaster. His first book, On the Stage and Off, was published in 1885. This was followed by numerous plays, books, and magazine articles, but he is best known for Three Men in a Boat. In 1927, one year after writing his autobiography My Life and Times, he was made a Freeman of the Borough of Walsall.

Though a relaxed, urbane man, Jerome was a relentless explorer of new ideas and experiences. He travelled widely throughout Europe, was a pioneer of skiing in the Alps, and visited Russia and America several times. He was a prolific writer whose work has been translated into many foreign languages.