George Alexander Stevens

Who was George Alexander Stevens?

George Alexander Stevens was an English actor, playwright, poet, and songwriter. He was born in the parish of St. Andrews, in Holborn, a neighbourhood of London. After spending many years as a traveling actor, he performed for the theater in Covent Garden.

Stevens was most famous in his lifetime for his Lecture on Heads, a satirical "lecture" on heads and fashion, which parodied the popularity of physiognomy. The lecture was first performed in 1764, and became an immediate success; he went on to perform it on tour throughout Great Britain, in Ireland, and in the American colonies at Boston and Philadelphia.

He was also known as popular song-writer, especially known for his bawdy drinking-songs and patriotic songs. Many of both kinds were collected in his Songs, comic and satyrical.

Stevens also authored several dramatic pieces for the stage, a novel entitled Tom Fool, and a satire, The Birthday of Folly.

He died in Baldock in Hertfordshire.