Thomas Dekker

Thomas Dekker, (c. 1572 – August 25 1632), was an Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer.

He is thought to have been born in London, but little else is known about his life, apart from the fact that he spent time (including the years 1613-1619) in prison for debt. The first of his plays known to have been performed were Old Fortunatus and The Shoemaker's Holiday , in 1600. In addition to his own plays, he collaborated with others, including Thomas Middleton, Philip Massinger and, most famously, John Webster.

Dekker's pamphlets, which describe the daily life of London in valuable detail, include The Wonderfull Yeare (1603) and The Belman of London (1608).

Thomas Dekker came back into scene in the twentieth century (although almost unnoticeably) when the Beatles included part of his ballad "Golden Slumbers" in their 1969 song of the same title.