Ben Jonson (1572-1637) grew up in a part of London where mansions stood next to ghettos, refused to take to the bricklaying trade of his stepfather, joined the army to work out his aggression, seduced other men's wives to avenge childhood wrongs; he was a convert to Catholicism when that could get you locked up or killed; a convicted killer who narrowly avoided execution; married man and loving father; student till sixteen of the most famous teacher in England, playwright to the greatest acting company England had ever seen, friend of Shakespeare, step-father to a host of aspiring poets, writer of entertainments for the King.