GUTHRIE

guthrie, thomas anstey (1856- ), known by the pseudonym of f. anstey, english novelist, was born in kensington, london, on the 8th of august 1856. he was educated at king's college, london, and at trinity hall, cambridge, and was called to the bar in 1880. but the popular success of his story _vice-versa_ (1882) with its topsy-turvy substitution of a father for his schoolboy son, at once made his reputation as a humorist of an original type. he published in 1883 a serious novel, _the giant's robe_; but, in spite of its excellence, he discovered (and again in 1889 with _the pariah_) that it was not as a serious novelist but as a humorist that the public insisted on regarding him. as such his reputation was further confirmed by _the black poodle_ (1884), _the tinted venus_ (1885), _a fallen idol_ (1886), and other works. he became an important member of the staff of _punch_, in which his "voces populi" and his humorous parodies of a reciter's stock-piece ("burglar bill," &c.) represent his best work. in 1901 his successful farce _the man from blankley's_, based on a story which originally appeared in _punch_, was first produced at the prince of wales's theatre, in london.