Burnand used his position as editor of Punch to print antagonistic reviews of the plays of Gilbert and refused to give the Gilbert and Sullivan operas reviews in the magazine. Burnand's last stage works were a collaboration with J. Hickory Wood, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1905, on a pantomime of Cinderella, and he was partly responsible for a pantomime of Aladdin for the same theatre in 1909. His later contributions to Punch became increasingly wordy and anecdotal, relying on far-fetched puns, but he was a good judge of talent, and under him the paper prospered. Stedman rates as a high point of his editorship the publication of The Diary of a Nobody by the brothers George and Weedon Grossmith, which was soon turned into book form and has never been out of print. He was reluctant to retire, but was persuaded to do so in 1906, and was succeeded by Owen Seaman. In 1908, Burnand became the editor of The Catholic Who's Who, published by Burns & Oates. Burnand lived for much of his life in Ramsgate, Kent, on the south coast of England and was a member of the Garrick Club in London. He had a very large circle of friends and colleagues who included William Makepeace Thackeray, Mark Lemon and most writers, dramatists and actors of the day. George Grossmith wrote: After a winter of bronchitis, Burnand died in 1917 at his home in Ramsgate, at the age of 80. He was buried in the cemetery at St Augustine's Abbey church in Ramsgate. Books Burnand's best-known book, Happy Thoughts, was originally published in Punch in 1863–64 and frequently reprinted. This was followed by My Time and What I've Done with It (1874); Personal Reminiscences of the A.D.C., Cambridge, (1880); The Incomplete Angler (1887); Very Much Abroad (1890); Rather at Sea (1890); Quite at Home (1890); The Real Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1893); Records and Reminiscences, (1904); and The Fox's Frolic: or, a day with the topsy turvy hunt, illustrated by Harry B. Neilson (1917). Notes and references Notes References Sources External links Profile of Burnand F. C. Burnand letters and memoranda, 1873–1907, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts 1836 births 1917 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Converts to Roman Catholicism English humorists English magazine editors English opera librettists Knights Bachelor People associated with Gilbert and