Voting Station

Arthur Wynne

Please vote to see the next celebrity.

Commentator

The Resume

    (June 22, 1871-January 14, 1945)
    Born in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
    Journalist for the Pittsburgh Press and New York World
    As editor of the 'Fun' section of the New York World, introduced the modern crossword puzzle (December 21, 1913)

Why he might be annoying:

    Before leaving for America to become a journalist, he was an onion farmer.
    He originally called his creation 'Word-Cross'; a typesetting error a week later turned it into 'Cross-Word.'
    Crosswords did not really take off in popularity until a decade later, when Simon and Schuster published a book collecting the World's puzzles.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He played violin in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
    He (and the World) lost out on a potential fortune when the paper's business manager declined to put up the money to file for a patent on the crossword, arguing it would be a six-month fad at best.
    A later-day crossword editor said, 'Liverpool's two greatest gifts to the world were the Beatles and Arthur Wynne.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 25 Votes: 16.00% Annoying