By George Grossmith

The Diary of a Nobody:

As well as being a tremendous comedy, The Diary of A Nobody, written as the diary of someone who would not normally merit a memoir but considers that he should have one written about him anyway, chronicles in hilarious and agonising detail everyday life in the lower middle class suburbs during the Victorian era and the attempts of a social climber to ‘better’ himself.

First published in the satirical magazine Punch as a serial, between 1888 and 1889, with illustrations by the author’s brother Weedon, The Diary of a Nobody is a fascinating insight into the social mores and sensitivities of its time, and the aspirations of the class it portrays in particular. What we find most agonising is that the described foolishnesses and preoccupation don’t seem to have altered much in the intervening century. There is plenty of evidence of what has come to be known as Pooterism - the tendency to take oneself too seriously, and much use of the word this book helped to popularise from the name of one of its characters a - Mr Murray Posh.

But for all Mr Pooter’s petty snobbery, and his tragic-comic social pretension, we love this character – and even identify with him at some level, if we are honest with ourselves! This is the diary of someone who acknowledges that he is not a ‘Somebody’, but would dearly love to be!