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Rediscovered play may be worst in history

EDINBURGH, Scotland (UPI) -- A recently discovered play by the Scottish writer long proclaimed the worst poet ever makes William McGonagall a candidate for the worst playwright ever. Scholars believe McGonagall, who was dragged offstage by the audience when he refused to die in the final scene of "Macbeth," visualized himself in the leading role in "Jack O' The Cudgel" or "The Hero of a Hundred Fights." Dr. Gerard Carruthers, a lecturer on Scottish literature at Glasgow University, calls the play "a string of the most predictable cliches." "Seldom has there been a writer of such indefatigable ambition, singularly unmatched by even a smidgen of talent," he told The Scotsman. "There's something a bit cruel about the repeated reprinting of McGonagall's work." McGonagall, who once walked to Balmoral Castle in an unsuccessful effort to persuade Queen Victoria to name him poet laureate, died broke in 1902. He has since become something of a cult figure with fans including Spike Milligan, the Monty Python troupe and a more successful Scottish author, J.K. Rowling. In fact, Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter series is named after McGonagall.