Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow

Jerome Klapka Jerome was an English writer and humorist best known for his comedic travelogue Three Men in a Boat (1889). Other works include essay collections Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886) and Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel, a sequel to Three Men in a Boat; and a number of novels. Jerome was born in Walsall, England, and, while he was able to attend grammar school, his family and he struggled financially as a young man working in numerous industries. In his twenties, he was able to publish some work, which led to success. He married in 1888, and their honeymoon was spent on a boat on the Thames; he authored Three Men in a Boat shortly after. He continued to write fiction, nonfiction, and plays for the next three decades, but never achieved the same degree of popularity. Jerome was born in Belsize House on 1 Caldmore Road in Caldmore, Walsall, England. He was the fourth child of Marguerite Jones and Jerome Clapp (after known as Jerome Clapp Jerome), an ironmonger and lay preacher with an interest in building. He had two sisters, Paulina and Blandina, and a brother, Milton, who died at a young age.