William Topaz McGonagall (March 1825 – 29 September 1902) was a Scottish poet of Irish descent.
Throughout his adult life he claimed to have been born in Edinburgh, giving his year of birth variously as 1825 or 1830, but his entry in the 1841 Census gives his place of birth, like his parents', as "Ireland".
By looking at census, marriage and death records, David Phillips identifies 1825 as the more likely birth date. The McGonagall family moved several times in search of work, possibly spending time in Glasgow and on South Ronaldsay before settling in Dundee around 1840.
Throughout his adult life he claimed to have been born in Edinburgh, giving his year of birth variously as 1825 or 1830, but his entry in the 1841 Census gives his place of birth, like his parents', as "Ireland".
By looking at census, marriage and death records, David Phillips identifies 1825 as the more likely birth date. The McGonagall family moved several times in search of work, possibly spending time in Glasgow and on South Ronaldsay before settling in Dundee around 1840.
Throughout his adult life he claimed to have been born in Edinburgh, giving his year of birth variously as 1825 or 1830, but his entry in the 1841 Census gives his place of birth, like his parents', as "Ireland".
Biographer Norman Watson suggests that McGonagall may have falsified his place of birth, as a native-born Scotsman would be better treated under the Poor Law of 1845 than one born in Ireland.
Having learned his trade, McGonagall proceeded to educate himself, taking "great delight in reading books", particularly cheap editions of Shakespeare's plays. On 11 July 1846, he married Jean King, a fellow mill worker from Stirling.
For this performance, the Book of Heroic Failures awards him the title of the "worst Macbeth" as well as "worst British poet". ==Career== The turning point in McGonagall's life came in June 1877.
In July 1878, he walked from Dundee to Balmoral, a distance of about over mountainous terrain and through a violent thunderstorm to perform for Queen Victoria.
During a trip to Dunfermline in 1879, he was mocked by the Chief Templar at the International Organisation of Good Templars, of which McGonagall was a member, who told him his poetry was very bad.
A grave-slab installed to his memory in 1999 is inscribed: Additionally, a plaque above 5 South College Street in Edinburgh shows an image of McGonagall, and bears the inscription: ==Tay Bridge Disaster== "The Tay Bridge Disaster" has been widely reproduced, and recounts the events of the evening of 28 December 1879, when, during a severe gale, the Tay Rail Bridge near Dundee collapsed as a train was passing over it.
In 1880, he sailed to London to seek his fortune, and in 1887 to New York.
He met with the ire of the publicans, on one occasion being pelted with peas for reciting a poem about the evils of "strong drink". In 1883 he celebrated the official opening of University College, Dundee with the poem "The Inauguration of University College Dundee" which opens with the stanza: McGonagall constantly struggled with money and earned money by selling his poems in the streets, or reciting them in halls, theatres and public houses.
In 1880, he sailed to London to seek his fortune, and in 1887 to New York.
Christopher Hart, writing in The Sunday Times, says that this seems "likely". In 1890, McGonagall was in dire straits financially.
By 1893, he was annoyed by his mistreatment in the streets and wrote an angry poem threatening to leave Dundee.
One newspaper quipped that he would probably stay for another year once he realised "that Dundee rhymes with 1893".
Though trying his hand at writing prose and endorsements for local businesses for a short time, in 1894, he and his wife were forced to move to Perth. Soon after, he received a letter purporting to be from representatives of King Thibaw Min of Burma.
Despite the fact that this was a fairly transparent hoax, McGonagall would refer to himself as "Sir William Topaz McGonagall, Knight of the White Elephant, Burmah" in his advertising for the rest of his life. In 1895, McGonagall and his wife moved to Edinburgh.
It did not last long, and by 1900 he was once again destitute and now old and sickly.
William Topaz McGonagall (March 1825 – 29 September 1902) was a Scottish poet of Irish descent.
Though he was now too frail to walk the streets selling his poems, donations from friends, as ever, kept him afloat. He died penniless in 1902, above what is now The Captain's Bar in Edinburgh's South College Street and was buried in an unmarked grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh.
While the death appears accidental, the detective suspects foul play because "it is highly unlikely that anyone would voluntarily reach for a volume of McGonagall." In 2016, The Atlantic premiered a short documentary about the life of McGonagall entitled "worst.poet.ever." ===In music=== McGonagall's poem "The Famous Tay Whale" was set to music by Matyas Seiber for the second Hoffnung Music Festival in 1958.
From c.1950 to 1995 a memorial bench stood on the path immediately to the north side of the church commemorating McGonagall and bearing the typically McGonagall-esque inscription "Feeling tired and need a seat? Sit down here, and rest your feet".
A grave-slab installed to his memory in 1999 is inscribed: Additionally, a plaque above 5 South College Street in Edinburgh shows an image of McGonagall, and bears the inscription: ==Tay Bridge Disaster== "The Tay Bridge Disaster" has been widely reproduced, and recounts the events of the evening of 28 December 1879, when, during a severe gale, the Tay Rail Bridge near Dundee collapsed as a train was passing over it.
While the death appears accidental, the detective suspects foul play because "it is highly unlikely that anyone would voluntarily reach for a volume of McGonagall." In 2016, The Atlantic premiered a short documentary about the life of McGonagall entitled "worst.poet.ever." ===In music=== McGonagall's poem "The Famous Tay Whale" was set to music by Matyas Seiber for the second Hoffnung Music Festival in 1958.
McGoonagall often introduces himself as "William McGoonagall, Poet, Tragedian and Twit". An episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus featured a McGonagall-esque poet called Ewan McTeagle, whose poems were actually prose requests for money. In 2018 and early 2019, a musical comedy play titled McGonagall's Chronicles (Which Will Be Remembered for a Very Long Time) was toured in Scotland, retelling the story of the poet in "almost rhyme".
McGoonagall often introduces himself as "William McGoonagall, Poet, Tragedian and Twit". An episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus featured a McGonagall-esque poet called Ewan McTeagle, whose poems were actually prose requests for money. In 2018 and early 2019, a musical comedy play titled McGonagall's Chronicles (Which Will Be Remembered for a Very Long Time) was toured in Scotland, retelling the story of the poet in "almost rhyme".
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