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Ben Travers

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Playwright

The Resume

    (November 12, 1886-December 18, 1980)
    Born in London, United Kingdom
    Wrote the plays 'The Dippers' (1922), 'The Three Graces' (1924), 'A Cuckoo in the Nest' (1925), 'Rookery Nook' (1926), 'Thark' (1927), 'Plunder' (1928), 'A Cup of Kindness' (1929), 'A Night Like This' (1930), 'Turkey Time' (1931), 'Dirty Work' (1932), 'A Bit of a Test' (1933), 'Banana Ridge' (1938), 'Outrageous Forturne' (1947), 'Wild Horses' (1951), 'Corker's End' (1968) and 'The Bed Before Yesterday' (1975)
    Named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1976)

Why he might be annoying:

    He said he was 'a complete failure at school.'
    His one attempt at a serious play, 'Chastity, My Brother' (1936), was a flop, closing in two weeks.
    He wrote, 'I know I am a pitiable, unashamed Philistine, but I simply cannot abide the plays of Anton Chekhov.'
    When his 1920s plays were reprinted accompanied by a blurb asking, 'Is it too far-fetched to compare him to P.G. Wodehouse at his best,' Travers took umbrage, saying that Wodehouse was 'a silly man.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was an RAF pilot during World War I and the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War.
    During World War II, he rejoined the RAF as an intelligence officer and worked at the Ministry of Information.
    After the abolition of theater censorship allowed him to write openly about sexual matters, he created 'The Bed Before Yesterday,' about a middle-aged woman discovering the pleasure of sex, and had the greatest success of his career at age 89.
    The 'Times' of London wrote, '[Farce] can be one happiest of theatrical forms. It is also among the most difficult to write. Ben Travers, indisputably, was the 20th century's chief practitioner.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 42 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying