Voting Station

Ronald Knox

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Author

The Resume

    (February 17, 1888-August 24, 1957)
    Born in Kibworth, Leicestershire, England, United Kingdom
    Priest, radio broadcaster, translator, and author of detective novels
    Anglican to Roman Catholic convert
    Translated the Latin Vulgate Bible into English (1945-49)
    Wrote the mysteries 'The Viaduct Murder' (1925), 'The Three Traps' (1927), 'The Footsteps at the Lock' (1928), 'The Body in the Silo' (1933), 'Still Dead' (1934), and 'Double Cross Purposes' (1937)
    Religious writings include 'The Belief of Catholics' (1927), 'God and the Atom' (1945), 'The Mass in Slow Motion' (1948), 'The Creed in Slow Motion' (1949), and 'The Gospel in Slow Motion' (1950)

Why he might be annoying:

    His radio program 'Broadcasting at the Barricades' (June 16, 1926) simulated a live news report of a working class revolt sweeping London, including government ministers being lynched and the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben being blown up.
    Initial panic over the broadcast was exacerbated when heavy snows kept much of the country from receiving newspapers the next day, seeming to confirm that something disruptive had happened.
    One of his 'Ten Commandments' for writing a detective novel was 'No Chinaman must appear in the story.'
    He gave up writing mysteries after his bishop complained it was undignified.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He worked in military intelligence during World War I.
    His father disinherited him after he converted to Roman Catholicism.
    'Broadcasting at the Barricades' influenced Orson Welles' 'War of the Worlds' radio broadcast.
    He parodied the 'debate' over who really wrote Shakespeare's plays by using similar techniques to 'prove' that Tennyson's poem 'In Memoriam' was actually written by Queen Victoria.
    He coined the quip that a good sermon should be like a woman's skirt: 'Short enough to rouse interest, but long enough to cover the essentials.'
    Evelyn Waugh called him 'the finest prose writer of our time.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying