Pierce Egan

For the novelist, see Pierce Egan the Younger.

Pierce Egan (1772–1849) was a British journalist, sportswriter, and writer on popular culture. His popular book Life in London, published in 1821, was adapted into the stage play Tom and Jerry, or Life in London later that year, which became the first play to have a continuous run of 100 performances in London while at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End.[1]

Coining the term "the Sweet Science" as an epithet for prizefighting — which he dubbed "the Sweet Science of Bruising" as a description of England’s bare-knuckle fight scene, the first volume of his prizefighting articles, Boxiana; or Sketches of Ancient and Modern Pugilism, was published in 1813.[2]

  1. ^ Parker, John, ed. (1925). Who's Who in the Theatre (fifth ed.). London: Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons. p. 1196. OCLC 10013159.
  2. ^ The Bittersweet Science: Fifteen Writers in the Gym, in the Corner, and at Ringside. University of Chicago Press. 2017. p. 3.