Funny Poems About Famous People

The 'famous people poetry' is further divided into funny poems about characters from the current era - 'figures of fun' - and those dragged from the depths of school history lessons - 'hysterical biographies'.

Hysterical Biographies

A Stitch in Time

A funny poem about King Alfred, the English king from centuries ago who is remembered only for his failures in the kitchen.

Voyage of Discovery

Sir Walter Raleigh is famous as the person who discovered all the things ending in 'o' - igloo, Plato, tobacco, Tokyo - in an attempt to impress Queen Elizabeth I.

One Hit Wonder

Sometimes a single, apparently innocuous event can have a dramatic effect on history.

Tree of Knowledge

A funny little poem about Sir Isaac Newton and his explanation as to how he discovered the effects of gravity, a story he almost certainly made up to annoy his scientific rivals.

Figures of Fun

Heartfelt Thanks

A short poem about Dr Christian Barnard, the South African surgeon who performed the first heart transplant operations.

Mixed Message

This poem was inspired by Paul Adams, the South African cricketer, who has an extraordinary disarticulated action which was famously described as like a 'frog in a blender'. Don't worry, it's about a frog, not cricket.

From Tutu to Tintin

A poem in the logical progressions series, which takes you from the word Tutu to Tintin in five easy leaps. In this case, the progression allows only changing one syllable of the initial word with each verse and the poem has to come close to making sense.

Batman Comes Undone

Most children, or perhaps more particularly boys, have superheros - Batman, Spiderman, Catwoman... although it seems some superheroes are more accident prone than others.

Hook

A puzzling poem about the fictional character Captain Hook who is central to the children's classic Peter Pan.