William Schwenck Gilbert  (1836–1911) LINKS W. S. Gilbert http://authorsdirectory.com/biography_online_book_portrait_picture/g_authors_w_s_gilbert.shtml This highly intricate site offers links to Gilbert’s biography, works, and portrait. In addition, the site provides a forum for interested visitors to read and offer lesson plans for classes covering the great playwright and poet’s work. The Gilbert & Sullivan Discography Homepage http://www.cris.com/~oakapple/gasdisc/index.htm The G&S Discography provides its visitors with the opportunity to hear some of Gilbert and Sullivan’s works and offers a highly detailed history of the musical eras in which Gilbert and Sullivan were working and how technological changes affected their work. Babliophile—W. S. Gilbert, Gilbert and Sullivan, Savoy Operas, Bab Ballads http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~ajcrowth/babphile.htm Andrew Crowther, a devout Gilbert fan, designed and produced this homage to “the greatest English dramatist of the nineteenth century.” This site is replete with cartoon depictions of Gilbert, friendly and familiar language, and bright colors. W. S. Gilbert: A Classic Victorian and His Theatre http://www.savoyardbooks.com/ajcrev.htm Savoyard Books’ Web site markets Jane W. Stedman’s biography, W. S. Gilbert: A Classic Victorian and His Theatre and also contains Andrew Crowther’s comprehensive review of the biography, which itself includes pertinent information on Gilbert’s life and work. BIOGRAPHY Born in London, Gilbert attended King’s College of London University (B.A., 1856), where he trained for a career as an attorney. He worked as a law clerk and was called to the bar in 1864. But writing was clearly his first love, and he began writing humorous verse under the pseudonym Bab. In 1861, he produced the first of more than fifty stage plays, and in 1866 began his collaboration with Arthur Sullivan. Together they produced fourteen operettas until the partnership dissolved in 1896. Those celebrated works often revealed and satirized the vanity, hypocrisy, and selfishness of the Victorian English establishment. His legal background led to his appointment as a justice of the peace in 1893.