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A.J. Cronin

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Author

The Resume

    (July 19, 1896-January 6, 1981)
    Born in Cardross, Scotland, United Kingdom
    Birth name was Archibald Joseph Cronin
    Physician turned author
    Appointed Medical Inspector of Mines for Great Britain (1924)
    Wrote the novels 'Hatter's Castle' (1931), 'The Stars Look Down' (1935), 'The Citadel' (1937), 'The Keys of the Kingdom' (1941), 'The Spanish Gardener' (1950), 'The Judas Tree' (1961), 'A Song of Sixpence' (1964) and 'A Pocketful of Rye' (1969)

Why he might be annoying:

    When his family pressured him to become either a minister or a doctor, he decided medicine was 'the lesser of two evils.'
    He began writing when he developed a duodenal ulcer and was ordered to take six months of rest in the country.
    When Nazi Germany banned the publication of British books during WWII, they made an exception for several of Cronin's titles, apparently feeling that they painted a bleak enough picture of life in Britain to serve as propaganda.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was a surgeon for the Royal Navy during World War I.
    The New York Times wrote that he was 'uncannily like Dickens' in his ability to incorporate social commentary into his stories.
    In a 1939 Gallup poll asking people which books had most influenced them, 'The Citadel' finished second only to The Bible.
    His call for free public health care in 'The Citadel' was said to have contributed to the Labour Party's 1945 victory and subsequent establishment of the National Health Service.
    He and May Gibson were married for 59 years.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 88 Votes: 53.41% Annoying