h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

John Stuart Mill
By a mighty effort of will
Overcame his natural bonhomie
and wrote "The principles of Political Economy"

I think. It's great anyway.

Well done - I was hoping someone would do the Clerihew...

Apparently he invented the form in 1905, in a book called "Biography for Beginners".

Also, by shamelessly trawling the web, I have found:

1. (no idea who this one is by)

Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Often didn't feel altogether well
But he triumphed over such adversity
By having his surname used for a university.

2. from Bentley himself

Sir Humphrey Davy
Abominated gravy
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.

3. apparently by Ackerman, Felicia. The American Scholar. (Winter 1997).

Sir Thomas Malory
Lurked in the gallery,
Longing to flee,
But unfortunately he did not hold the card that would get him out of jail free.


4. winner of a post-war New Statesman prize

Sir Stafford Cripps'
Lips
Announce we must
Export or bust.


5. Edmund Clerihew Bentley, "More Biography" 1929

George the Third
Ought never to have occurred.
One can only wonder
At so grotesque a blunder.

6. another Bentley

It was a weakness of Voltaires
To forget to say his prayers
And one which, to his shame,
He never overcame.

Eeeeeexcellent! Now, can anybody think of a good rhyme for "Adams"?

"Douglas N Adams
Frequents kinky Madams
...but you should always suspect
The things you read on the Net"

...I'll never be a Laureate

Hmmm. I think you're right, there really are no others. Unless you want to go for the dodgy:

Douglas Adams
Had a reputation better than Saddam's.
One was a middle-eastern ruler,
The other wrote books, which is much cooler.

Or the plain silly:

Douglas Adams'
Keyboards often had bad 'M's.
Had he been careless
He would have ended up writing "Ostly Harless".

More from ECB:

What I like about Clive
Is that he is no longer alive.
There is a great deal to be said
For being dead.

Edward the Confessor
Slept under the dresser.
When that began to pall,
He slept in the hall.