The Resume

(1709-January 23, 1789)
Born in Kingston upon Thames, England, United Kingdom
Wrote 'Fanny Hill: Or the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' (1748)

Why he might be annoying:

He was expelled from Westminster School.
He was fired from the East India Company after quarreling with his boss.
He spent a year in debtor's prison.
He wrote a large body of work, but is remembered solely for his one 'dirty' book.
Ironically, he denounced Laurence Sterne's novel Tristam Shandy as 'pornography.'
James Boswell called him 'a fine, sly malcontent.'

Why he might not be annoying:

He wrote 'Fanny Hill' for a publisher who offered to bail him out of prison in return for a licentious book.
According to rumor, the British government paid him 100 pounds a year to not publish any further erotica.
The US Supreme Court ruled that 'Fanny Hill' contained sufficient literary merit to qualify as not obscene (1966).

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Allegedly Gay Men
• Bankruptcy
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 06]
• Don't Look at Me, I'm Not in My Profile Picture
• I Write Bildungsroman
• People with John or Mary in their Names
• Profiles 21001-21250 (Ranked: 21233)
• UK Guardian's Christopher Hart's Top 10 Erotic Novels [2002] (Ranked: 4)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 5 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 9 Votes: 22.22% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 12 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 48 Votes: 81.25% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 24 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 64 Votes: 68.75% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 21 Votes: 38.10% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 29 Votes: 62.07% Annoying
In 2007, Out of 30 Votes: 70.0% Annoying